Trinity
by Magic Anony
Summary: War, family betrayal, teen hormones, & no chocolate milk:These are things Trinity has to cope with as a new friend & five mysterious boys appear in her life to alter it forever. *rewritten*
1. Authoress's NoteDeath of a Friend

Disclaimer: 'Lo! Hello hi! Yessith, I didn't make Gundam Wing. I don't own it, although I can slightly draw it and I can do a pretty good voice of Wufei when he''s drunk, but no, I don''t really have anything to do with it's creation. I'm generally just boring it (or rather the characters, wuahaha) for a bit-o-fun, BUT all of the characters and plot points not in GW are my own and please don't use them without my consent. Tankies.

  
  


AUTHORESS'S NOTE TO THE READERS:*As of July 17, 2002* You are all going to think I'm insane. I'm redoing all of Trinity. ::hides under a piece of strong steel:: It's not even really "redoing" so to speak, I've just decided to add in some more parts and change a few up. Most, if not all, of what is written will stay about the same, BUT more will be added and ::glup:: possible grammar checking.

I started the story a REALLY long time ago, though it never really got finished until just recently because I never had time to work on it besides in the summer. After starting the second book (Trinity:SOS) I decided after a long time of thinking it over to re-write/revise the whole thing. It just didn't live up to my standards. It's my "baby" so to speak, being not only my first fanfiction, but also my first story ever to actually finish. 

To everyone who has read the story: I'm sorry for going and changing it up on you now, but I seriously think it will be much better this time than it was last time. It will still go from massively crazy to overly depressing ::sweatdrop::, but that's just a given with two characters like Hannah and Trinity. Please, re-read it and review because I truly wish to know what everyone thinks about it. I'm not great, astounding authoress, so just keep that in mind as you read on. 

To first time readers: Tankies for taking the time to read it and please, tell me what you think! 

Writing, though I can't always find the right way to say things, have a lack for spelling skills, and can't seem to get homophones right for my life, is something that I now hold very dear to me and whether you flame it or not, I don't care!! Hehe, just please take the time to review!! I love you all!!!

Tankies for everything! 

*Magic

  


Chapter One

"Death of a Friend"

By Magic

  


Trinity Renada hated this part of the day even more than sitting in her morning algebra class for fifty minutes while nodding off to sleep. It was the hardest thing to have to live through, even harder than Algebra. She had to walk down the long sidewalk of her privet school, past thousands of peers just waiting to throw her a line about her family, car, money or just something else really stupid that would tempt her to take a swing at them, and today, as every other day, she would pretend it didn't bother her and walk head up, like her mother taught her, all the way to her personal limousine which waited at the street curb to take her back home where she would probably talk to no one for the rest of the day. 

Trinity sighed deeply, opened the large, double wooden doors and stepped out into the sunlight. The whole school seemed to be watching or whispering to their best friend as she walked to her car. Her driver opened the door for her and she ducked inside. That wasn't too bad, Trinity thought, at least they didn't throw anything. Though, I must admit, sometimes I get some pretty tasty items...like that banana yesterday. She cautiously glanced out the window at her school and decided that the made-to-look-old school was the least place she wanted to think about over her vacation. Her step-brother was coming home, and she had been granted a full two weeks of freedom to spend with her him. Out of school. . . and into a long, grueling two weeks of dresses, parties, and smiling so much I get mouth cramps, Trinity thought, remembering the last time her brother came home as the limo moved past the gates and into her family's yard. I wonder what he's doing right now...

  
  


***

Nadir Renada moved his mobile suit closer to his destination as a small smirk played lightly on his lips. Leos were not his favorite suit, but he knew if he didn't want the pilot alarmed, he was going to have to move himself and ten other suits as quite as he could. He had been looking for this particular Gundam pilot for several weeks, and he finally had his location. The pilot had made the simple mistake of going out to get food from the local store and had been caught on the security system. I thought these guys were smart, Nadir pondered as he laughed silently. His gold hair that was combed neatly back fell in sections onto his hansom face concealing his blue eyes that searched the surrounding area. He knew he wouldn't really be noticed because the colonies were used to suits walking around.

He heard the small thumps from his suit's feet as he walked down the street. He and his team were "patrolling the area", so he couldn't make any sharp movements. Soon the pilot would be his, and the colony would forever be on his side. He laughed again to himself quietly. It was a cruel, heartless laugh that was interrupted by a small snort after which he glanced around to see if anyone had noticed.

***

Hilde had just found the can opener under a pile of dirty clothes to open some soup when she heard a loud crash from the back and soft cursing from a young man. He must have dropped a part on his foot, she thought as she stirred the soup. She looked at the can again and could have sworn she hadn't picked any tomato soup up the last time she got food. Duo must have gone out, she realized and thought of using a couple swear words herself. He knew he wasn't supposed to go out in public. Once the fighting had started again, she had tried to make him promise to stay out of the public's eye, but he would always just shake his head and remind her, like she couldn't forget, that he was a Gundam pilot and that he could take care of himself.

Gundam pilot my ass, she thought, that doesn't make you immortal Duo Maxwell! She heard the door open and saw Duo's short figure out of the corner of her eye.

"Hi yah, Hildy! What's for supper?" Duo called out across the room.

"The tomato soup you bought," Hilde said, with a slight edge to her voice to show she did not approve of his shopping.

"Thanks," Duo said as he flopped down onto the couch. He had heard the edge to her voice, but he really had needed some pop so he had just made her job easier by going out to get pop and food. There just wasn't a morning for Duo Maxwell unless he pumped his system with caffeine, and he had needed to get the new parts put away so pop had become something likened to the Holy Grail. He looked up at Hilde from behind the couch and smiled. She makes great soup, he admitted, even if she does hate my hair...and my messiness...and... At the thought of his hair, Duo pulled the long braid out from under his back, where it was giving him a small cramp, and swung it over the couch.

"Ding dong!" Hilde mimicked a doorbell as she pulled Duo's braid down twice. She then walked around the couch and gave Duo his supper. She looked out the window. The "sun" was already setting (there is no sun in the colonies, but I'm sure they have dark and light times sometime!) and realized she still had to get home. "Duo, I've gotta leave pretty soon so I'm just going to let YOU do the dishes today."

"ME?" Duo asked in a voice of mach horror. He looked over the couch, his face matching his voice, "and get dish-pan hands?" He threw his hands into the air, pretending to surrender. He put on his best pouting face by twisting it to look like a sad puppy.

Hilde had to laugh. He just looked so stupid! "Okay, okay!" She said, also surrendering, "I'll do the dishes, but you have to come down and help after you eat that and change into clothes that don't smell like a wet dog. Now, get upstairs and change!" She ordered.

"Yes mother!" Duo said giving her an 'I don't have to listen to you if I don't want to face', and Hilde came back with a glance over to the pile of dirty dishes, which made Duo think twice (which he hardly ever does) and he walked off to his room, slowly.

Hilde turned back to the task at hand: the dishes. What a mission I have today. I have to wash all of these dishes, she thought as she looked them up and down. I'm going to get home really, really late.

She heard a small noise out the window but paid it no mind as she began to wash the mile high pile of dishes. She plunged her hands into the hot, sudsy water and prepared herself emotionally and physically to scrub something that looked a mix of week old spaghetti and fruit salad off a plate. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

"Duo, you're supposed to be changing," she commented, knowing it took Duo at least ten minutes to change not including his hair, but that was a different story.

"I'm not Duo," an older man's voice informed her. She whirled around to look into a pair of dark blue eyes that belonged to some sort of soldier. He was obviously the leader of the ten others that stood in the garage, but he wasn't the oldest. Hildy looked around, wondering what to do. They obviously came here to get Duo, but. . . Her thoughts were interrupted when the leader took out his pistol and laid it against her temple. He smiled evilly as he saw her face turn from confusion, to fear, and then to anger.

"What do you want with me?" Hildy asked the all too obvious question.

"Don't worry," the man said, "We don't want you, we want the Gundam pilot. What was his name. . . Duo?"

Hildy felt trapped. Her hand searched the soapy water for something to defend herself with, hoping Duo had eaten steak recently, but all that she could find was a plastic spoon and a spatula. She wasn't about to give up Duo, but this man didn't look like he was kidding around. 

  
  


***

Duo finally made it up to "his room". The short, small "room" was really just the attic to the garage, but he had bought a pillow, blanket, and some other things that would make the cramped space livable. There was one window in the stuffy, little room, and other than that there was just a closet and an open space about as big as two closets. Duo sighed. Home sweet home, he thought as he made it over to his closet. He opened the door and was attacked by a flying pile of clothes. Unlike most days when his clothes fell out of his closet and attacked him, this day the clothes weighted lot.

What the heck? He thought as he pushed the pile of clothes off of him and got to his feet. He watched as the clothes wiggled and thrashed around until finally he could see the head of a blonde person.

"Quatre?!" He asked the wiggling clothes man. 

The clothes man didn't have to answer because by that time Quatre was almost out of the maze of black shirts. Not only did he look like a train had just hit him, but he still seemed to be stuck in a pair of Duo's special black pants. He didn't look like the happiest man on Earth as he flung them off against the wall in a small burst of rage, which was quite odd for Quatre Winner. 

"What the hell were you doing in my closet?!?" Duo almost screamed the last part out. He didn't mind his friend coming over, but most people knocked on the door and introduced themselves. They didn't climb in the closet and wait to be found.

Duo was surprised when Quatre gave him the signal to shut up. 

"They've found you, Duo," Quatre whispered under his breath as he pulled one of Duo's shirts out of his own.

"What? Who?" Duo asked looking around, wondering if they were hiding in his dresser or something. 

"Renada," Quatre said, and he looked at his friend.

"Who? Oh him," Duo said. So Nadir had finally found him. Duo and the other Gundam pilots didn't exactly know much about who Nadir actually was. All they could tell was he was some elite leader of a group who was attempting to take over the colonies. They didn't really know why, how, where, when, or even who was backing the whole organization. Being Gundam pilots in the war before this one, they had felt it was their obligation to do something about these interesting soldiers running around trying to gather the support of all the colonies. A few minor battles had broken out against the newly formed peace alliance who didn't like the idea of some of the colonies forming their own league together, but nothing full scale had come out of it all. Yet. 

Renada had told Duo at their last encounter, as he flew off away from Duo, that he was going to hunt him down. I don't know why he hates me so. All I did was destroy half of his soldiers and his large ship, but that gives him no right to hate ME, Duo thought, smiling a mischievous grin. Quatre caught the grin and could tell that Duo had a little too much fun the last time he ran into the unbalanced soldier.

Quatre didn't ask Duo what he had done to the guy he instead asked, "Have you seen anyone following you lately?"

"No," Duo said after thinking carefully about it, "but what I want to know is why you didn't just come through the door like normal people? Or is this just the polite way for the Winner family to enter a home?"

Quatre paid the wise crack no mind and whispered,"Because it wouldn't do anyone any good to see the "lost" heir to the Winner family walking around the street and knocking on people's doors, now would it? Anyway, I didn't want Renada knowing I was here too."

"You have a point," Duo whispered back just as he heard Hilde calling his name. Duo started his way to the door but was stopped by Quatre's hand grabbing his shoulder.

"Wait," Quatre whispered.

"Wh. . . ?" Duo didn't get the chance to answer because his friend had clamped his hand over his mouth. Duo gave his friend an angry glance and removed the hand, but he shut up too and listened for whatever Quatre was listening for.

"Call him again!" a ruff voice told, who Duo and Quatre believed, must have been Hilde.

"Hildy!" Duo would have yelled out if it wasn't for Quatre's hand slapping over his mouth once more.

Duo looked at Quatre, who shook his blonde head. Duo knelt near the opening to the ladder, getting ready to jump down to help his friend if need be and felt his anger building. They were using Hilde to get to him, and he despised people who didn't just face him head on. 

Duo's face was a mask of hatred when Quatre looked at him. Crap, Quatre thought, he's going to try to save her. He knew Duo was impetuous, but it wasn't going to help any of them if Duo got himself killed. Quatre signaled Duo over to the window and pointed to the ground. Duo nodded, and they both jumped out of the window. They landed quietly, at least as quietly as two boys jumping down from a ten-foot high window can, and leaned up against the side of the house. They slowly made their way to the back door and opened it ever so slightly so that they could see inside.

"I told you he wasn't here, Renada!" Hilde yelled at the tallest man.

"Shut up brat," Nadir hissed in a cold, unnaturally calm voice. "Well, i f you can't help us than there is no use for you." He took out his gun and aimed at Hilde's head. Duo saw the fear in his friends face, but it all happened so fast that he was powerless to stop it. He watched in slow motion as Renada pulled the trigger , Hilde's body jerked with a shock, and her head fell down onto her chest. Duo wanted to scream and yet no sound came out.

Quatre watched it happen too, and he quickly turned away. He couldn't stand killing. He turned back to Duo and saw his friend was shaking. I have to get him out of here.

He grabbed Duo's arm and pulled him along with him as he jumped into the pile of parts and scraps. It was weird that Duo followed without giving a fight, but Quatre kept a tight hold on Duo's arm just in case his friend decided he wanted to blow Renada's head off, which could be any time soon. 

Quatre turned in unison with Duo, towards the sound a door opening. "Burn it down," they heard Renada's cold voice say.

"And the girl, sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

They couldn't hear the reply that came from Renada as he was already on the other side of the house.

"Yes, sir!" The man, to them, just seemed all to eager to destroy the evidence. 

Soon the little garage was nothing but a pile of burning flames wildly slicing through the air. I'm going to kill him, Duo thought, he will suffer for this. I will tare his life apart, starting with his family for what he did to mine. Duo felt his eyes getting misty, but he pushed away the tears that were building inside him. He felt empty and void as if someone had ripped part of him out. Real men don't cry, Duo thought and then viciously stated to himself, they get even.

Quatre looked over at his friend. Duo was looking at the burning house, his face a true mask of rage. Quatre could see the flames reflecting in Duo's eyes and knew for sure that he didn't want to be Renada. He led Duo away from the inferno and towards the airport. He was going to take his friend to his family's building on this colony. Duo had nowhere to go, and he knew it so he followed Quatre down the street, away from the only home he had ever had.

***Trinity opened the French doors to the living room with her house key and glanced around the large room. Her foot steps echoed on the marble floor of the large hallway as she waved to the cook in the kitchen. She chucked her backpack behind the couch and yelled to her mother.

"I'm home!"


	2. The Plot Thickens

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

Chapter 2

"The Plot Thickens"

By Magic

  


Trinity walked past the pool and into her side of the house. Since her sister had left to fight in the war as well as her step-brother, she received the twenty-room corner of the house all to herself. This corner of the house was decorated the same as the rest of it, old fashion semi-Victorian with a hint of medieval in it. She loved all of the suits of armor that the knights had worn in the Middle Ages that lined the halls down in this corner. She finally got to her favorite room on the top floor of three, in the corner, over looking the pool, gardens and, her favorite part, the fencing area. 

Trinity had been taught how to fence at the age of about four. It was then that her step- father had given her a very special present for her fifth birthday: an old fashion sword. It was a little too heavy for her at that age, but she soon learned how to master the weapon and was fighting her step-brother by the age of seven while he was twelve. Even her teacher couldn't beat her now. She was a natural. Everyone thought so, and even her father, who she hadn't seen much of during her childhood, had congratulated her performance in the sport.

Her father had died recently in a spacecraft accident. He had been the leader of the Romerfeller Foundation that had caused the war before this one purposely. Trinity couldn't really say that she was all that sad about it, since her father hated her mother, whom she loved dearly, and he never talked to her much. In fact he had talked to his granddaughter Dorothy, her niece, more than her, but she didn't really care about that. She hadn't liked to see him on her birthdays because he and her mother had always gone off and bickered about things for hours on end. Not only that, but he had always brought Dorothy with him. The last time Dorothy had been over, which was three years ago, Trinity had beaten her in fencing and Dorothy hadn't talked to her since. Not that it's all that bad of a thing, she thought. In some ways, Trinity had wished she had beat Dorothy at fencing sooner so she wouldn't have had to put up with her!

Oh well. I can't live in the past, she thought as she flung off her school uniform. 

She changed into her favorite pair of green cargo shorts and a semi-tight fitting black shirt. Now she was ready for sword practice. She had to get ready for her brother because every time he came over he wanted to fight her. He always won too, but last time she won only because her teacher was there and wouldn't let Nadir "play rough". 

She ran down the three flights of stairs and into the hall. She first needed to get the key from her step-dad to open the safe, which held her sword. She ran into the large main living room to find her dad talking to one of the Winner sisters. Trinity should have known her name, but there was too many of them to keep track of so she had given up after meeting the thirteenth one. She smiled kindly when the sister said hello and asked her stepfather for the key. He turned to look at her and smiled for a second, his bearded face crinkling along his wrinkles that had just started to show. Trinity had always thought of him as being her father since he had been around her since she was three. He rummaged around in his pocket for a bit, then gave it to her, and she ran off towards the opposite end of the house.

It was a long run so she had time to think about what the Winner sister might have been doing at her house. Probably trying to get her step-father to call off his son from the fighting. Her step-father had made it clear that he did not back up his son's plans or the fact that he was starting up a war that had almost the whole universe confused. Because of this, there was no one that could hurt or sue the family if his son screwed up. This was one reason that Trinity never got to see her step-brother. He and her had been really close before he went off to fight a year ago after he almost seemed to disappear from the house, but now they had grown apart because Trinity never saw him, and she didn't really like the idea of him going out and killing people.

He wasn't actually the complete, loving brother, Trinity had to admit. It was because sometimes her step-father paid more attention to her than to him. Also, there was the fact about the sword. Her step-father had been given the sword from his father and his father had gotten it from his father and so on and so on. Her step-brother had always thought that he should have gotten the sword, and when he found out that Trinity had gotten it, he was so mad at both his father and Trinity, he didn't talk to either of them for a whole day (which is quite long for a ten year old). Trinity always thought that he had never fully forgiven her for having gotten "his" sword, though it had always eluded her as to why she had ever gotten it in the first place.

Trinity had finally reached the safe, and she stuck the key into the lock. Her step-father was the only one with a key and the key was the only one ever made, so the safe was almost impossible to break into. She turned the key to the left and heard the faint click of the lock opening. She took the key out and placed it into her pocket. She would give it to her step-father later.

She then pulled out her most prized possession, her sword. Its sheath was a beautiful sliver with only the darkest of blue jewels on it. Her father had ordered the sheath for her for her sixth birthday and had made sure that the jewels were her favorite color, cobalt blue. She loved the sheath, but even more she loved the sword. It was a totally straight sword. It was double edged and completely balanced the whole way down. The edges were so sharp that they could almost cut through any kind of metal like it was butter. And for that reason, one had to be very careful when handling it, but Trinity could handle it better than anyone else in the world her stepfather would say as he watched her practice. Over the years, she had learned how to switch hands quickly, through it behind her back to the other hand and a bunch of tricks that were probably good for only showing off. Except for the fact that she could block people when they came at her from behind by throwing it behind her so quickly that most people couldn't catch how she had done that. Because of this, Trinity could show off even more when fighting someone else by turning around and around changing from fighting front ways to with her back to them and back to front again.

She didn't really like showing off to anyone but her stuffy, old fencing teacher who had said when she was little that she would never become a good fencer if she didn't stand still, and spinning around until she was dizzy was not his idea of the right way to fence. Like I really care that you don't like me spinning around like a crazed baboon. It's fun! She walked out of the safe room and down to the fencing field. She started warming up her muscles until she was ready to start. She practiced gabbing, trusts, and blocks until she was bored stiff. And then she decided to try something new for a change. She started flipping and twirling her sword in many different directions, behind her back, around her head, and even once in between her legs. Soon the hot sun had gotten to her and she had to go inside and take a rest.

She walked into the kitchen to find her mother talking to the cook on what to prepare her stepbrother for supper. Trinity skipped asking her mother if she could have a snack and just grabbed a cookie from the jar. Unfortunately, her mother caught her in mid-action and told her to put it back. Trinity groaned and fussed, but finally gave up on trying to get her mom to let her eat. Her mother then decided that she needed to see what Trinity was wearing for her brother's arrival, and she was rushed up to her room with her dressing lady to get her hair done and her dress on.

  


***

  


Nadir Renada was sleeping when the flight attendant awakened him. He first checked to make sure that he hadn't drooled all over his new clean uniform and was glad to see that there was no wet stain on the blue thing.

"Beverage?" She asked.

"No," he said simply. He was in a good mood so he didn't need anything to drink. He was thinking about what was going to happen tonight. He had been planning it for a year, and now he was finally going to be able to put it into action. He was going to kill his father tonight when he got there. His men would surround the building to make sure no one escaped. Then he was going to go in there get the key to the safe first and kill his father. With his father gone, he would be the new head of the family and he would own the estate. He would then try to get the Winner family to join his side of the fight. If they did, he would rule over almost two-thirds of all of the colonies. His commander would be very pleased with what he was about to do; not only was it militarily helpful, but Nadir and his commander both agreed that it should be done "for the best".

He didn't really care about his father. Not ever since he had given that brat for a stepsister his sword. He had always wanted it, and even after the brat had it, he often thought of just taking it from her. It wasn't so much the fact that she had it, but the fact that his father had given it to her, and her not even being a blood relative. He smiled. She would soon be out of his way forever. He had something special in store for her. He was going to make her watch her step-father die. She loved him so much; it just seemed to make sense to make her watch it. His smile grew. Then he would kill her. No, not just kill her. He would beat her in a fencing match, and then kill her. He laughed cruelly. This is going to be fun, he thought, yes. . . real fun.

  


***

  


Quatre had called one of his sister's private jets so they were already back at his house. He was sitting in one of the many rooms of his old home, sipping some tea when Duo came in. His friend looked exhausted. He had bags under his eyes, and he walked slightly hunched over. Duo plopped down on the sofa across from Quatre and looked up at the ceiling as if inspecting it for cracks.

"You feel okay, Duo?" Quatre asked worriedly.

"Fine," was the one word he got from Duo. He had said one-word answers the whole rest of the day. Duo got up and looked out the window. Suddenly he seemed overcome with anger and punched the glass. "Why her and not me?!" he screamed, causing Quatre's tea set that sat on the table next to him to shudder.

"She did what she thought was right, Duo. She was a good friend, and she wanted to save you so she sacrificed her life for yours. There's nothing left to do now but remember her sacrifice and go on. I know it hurts, but you have to get on with your life. Living in the past doesn't help one bit," Quatre preached, and he got up and walked over to the window to stand besides his friend and partner. He looked out across the field with Duo and over to the warm lights of the mansion. "It's beautiful isn't it?"

Duo nodded his agreement for he also saw the beauty in the house. It was huge! Almost as big as Quatre's, and it had to have at least one thousands lights in the windows alone!

"It belongs to the Renada family," Quatre said quietly.

Duo swung around to face Quatre instead of the house. "What did you say?"

"You know what I said. The Renada family is a peace abiding family here. You shouldn't go mess up their life."

"But. . ."

"No, Duo. The Nadir's father hates the war as much as I do. As much as we all do. He disowned his son when he went to fight. You must understand that the family doesn't want to have this war. It's hard for the family to live a normal life with their son causing a major war right outside their home, and as far as we know, they don't have any more idea about why it's all happening than we do."

Duo just let that sink it. So the whole family wasn't as unbalanced as Nadir Renada. Suddenly Duo let his anger go. He would get Renada, yes that was for sure, but he wasn't going to fight the peace loving family. That doesn't mean I have to like this family though, Duo thought, I just won't kill them.

"Duo, I called the other guys. They'll all get here by tomorrow. In the mean time, we should do something about, well, Duo. . . you kind of stink."

Duo had to laugh. "Yeah, I know. We don't have a shower there so I probably smell worse then well umm. . . "

"I don't think anything could smell worse than you."

Duo gave him an 'I'm gonna kill you face' but then asked," Do you have a lake or a pool or something? I don't really like to wash up in showers."

This caused both of them to laugh. Quatre said that there was a clean river near by and that the two could go down there if he wished. Quatre grabbed his swim trunks and told Duo that he might want to wear those clothes because they smelled too. After ducking a lazy punch from Duo, they set off for the river.

  


***


	3. Brotherly Love

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One! Oh yeah, and the title of the chapter is also a title for a Disney show..... Guess I give them credit too. 

  


Chapter Three

"Brotherly Love"

By Magic

  


Trinity was about ready to scream. In fact, she decided it was the best idea she'd had all day. It had taken two hours for her mom to finally come up with the "perfect" dress to meet her step-brother in. Then her mom told her to take a shower and get her hair all "nice" for dinner. Trinity loved her mom, but she could be such a perfectionist.

She walked, or rather slumped, into the bathroom and filled the tub with hot water. She felt grimy from sword practice and wanted to take a bath. She poured half of the bottle of bubble bath into the tub and watched as the cloud of white fluff slowly rose to the edge of the huge tub. She got in after removing her clothes and sat there for what seemed like half of forever before she finally got to washing her hair.

After she was clean she looked out the window. The sun had long since gone down, and the fake sky was a dark, cobalt blue. My favorite color, Trinity thought as she slid deeper into the tub. Soon she was fast asleep, only to be woken up a half an hour later to a loud thumping noise. 

She dried herself and her hair off, deciding that her brother wasn't expected until ten o'clock so she would just put on a pair of shorts and a black shirt. She still wanted to know what the noise was, but she forgot about it when the problem came to her hair. She combed her still damp, dark brown, chin length hair and put it in a half ponytail because it wasn't quite long enough for a full one. 

She looked at herself in her vanity mirror. The reflection she saw was a semi-tall girl who looked like she would rather be out climbing trees than sitting at a dinner table. She wasn't cute, but she was best described as a grown up sort of pretty. One that the boys at school hadn't noticed, probably because she wasn't blonde. Her dark brown eyes looked almost black in the dim light next to her pale skin. Trinity groaned as the usual layers on each side of her head fell out of the tight ponytail since they were too short to stay in.

Again her looked into the mirror. It'll have to do, she thought, because I'm not doing anything else with this hair. She got off of the chair and walked out into the hall, shutting her door quietly behind her. She looked around, confused. Usually there was someone running up and down the halls, no matter what time of the night it was. Then she heard the thumping again.

She ran to the window a couple feet away from her and looked outside. What she found there was a large Mobil suit walking on her front lawn. She was so surprised she almost fell over but was supported by the wall so instead she just hit her head hard on the glass window. Suits aren't allowed on this property, she thought, aghast. What the hell?

She ran down the halls looking for someone to talk to, but there was no one to be found. She then walked into the large living room by the front door and found the door open. She walked slowly up to the large windows facing the Winner building and looked into the back yard. The forest was dark and foreboding in the distance. Past the forest there was a large stream that she often would swim in as a child. She was lost in her thoughts when she heard a scream to her right. She quickly turned around and looked down the hall towards her parents quarters. The hall, which was usually lit by thousands of hall lights and chandeliers, was now as dark as the bottom of the ocean. 

Trinity walked over to the light switch to turn on the closest light and found that the light wouldn't turn on. She slowly began her way through the long hallway down to her parents' room. Soon she could see the light from their doorway. One of the double doors was swung open and created a beam of light that penetrated the darkness. Trinity walked over to the door and knocked.

First she heard a small gasp, then she heard her mother say calmly," Come in, Trinity." 

Trinity walked into the door, ready for what she might find, or maybe not. Her mouth opened wide as she saw the scene that lay before her. Her mother, in her best dress, was being held at gunpoint by her step-brother! She stood there trying to make sense of the picture. Nadir was in his best uniform, standing in a relaxed position. He turned to face her as she walked into the room.

"Hello, Trinity," he said as a smile spread across his all too handsome face. "How nice to see you. I haven't seen you for almost a year now. You really have grown you know. You seem to almost, but not quite, fit that sword that's at your side. Of course, you're still just a child now. Too bad you're life will end soon. Painfully to say the least, but let's get back to the task at hand."

Trinity just stood there, not being able to find the words that would express the feeling she had now. Why? She thought. The words 'fuck you' came to her mind, but her mouth refused to accept them.

By then Nadir interrupted her thoughts. "You must be asking yourself why right now, I would have to guess. Why is my step-brother holding my mother at gunpoint? Well, I'll answer your question for you my dear, dear sister. I knew that you wouldn't fight me unless I had a little weight on my side to make you. And, as you can see, I found that weight. So this is my deal," Nadir said looking from Trinity to her mother," you fight me, or your mother dies." A cruel smile replaced his all too fake 'hello sis' one as he said," oh yes. There is just one tiny catch to this deal. You have to fight with your sword, and it's not fun and games this time, Trinity. It's to the death."

Trinity grabbed for the hilt of her sword instinctively and slide it under Nadir's neck. Her whole body shook with a combination of rage and fear as she attempted to get her emotions in check. The world had gone insane; there was nothing else to it. Her normal life had been shattered into pieces like a mirror after someone takes a hammer to it.

Oceans of blue eyes blinked in amazement, until the eyes turned into reflections of amusement. Nadir scoffed at his younger, step-sisters action. "Would you kill me sister? Could you kill me? No, it seems to me that I still have the weight here because the question is dear Trinity, can you kill anyone?" 

"What's happened to you?!" Trinity screamed as her eyes welled with tears, her sword dropping from his neck and to her side as her confusion swelled. It seemed that for a second Nadir's eyes melted if just for a moment. His expression seemed unsure and for an instant he seemed to start lowering the gun from his step-mother's head.

At that moment Trinity heard the sound of a gun going off, the harsh scream of glass breaking, and the sound of a short yet painful scream as Trinity's mother was shot to the ground.

To Trinity it felt like a life time as she spun to watch the blood from her mother splatter on the floor and her mother fall slowly to the ground and land with a dead, empty thud. Her face, dashed with the red blood of her mother, twisted into an expression of complete fear. Nadir growled something under his breath and spun to face Trinity, but she was already running out of the door.

"I will find you and my sorry excuse for a father!" Nadir yelled out after her.

Father? Thought Trinity. Father's still alive? Trinity needed to find him and warn him that his son had a pile of marbles missing. Mother. . . why? Why did he kill you? Why couldn't---WOULDN'T I save you? As Trinity ran down the hallway, all of the lights came back on. She looked around for the person who switched them on and found her step-father running towards her.

"TRINITY!!!" He yelled and he ran to his step-daughter's side.

Before she could really even grasp that her step-dad was even there, he was pulling her towards one of the back doors.

"Mother. . . " Trinity managed to croak out as her father whisked her out of the house.

"I know," was all she got out of her dad. He pulled her onto one of the motorcycles that were used to travel in the forest. "You drive," he said as he handed her the keys to the bike. As she started the bike with shaky hands, her father pulled out his gun and got on behind her. "Go. Now. To the woods."

Trinity had a hard time starting off, but soon they were whizzing towards the tree line up ahead. Glad she was the driver, Trinity couldn't think about what had just happened. Instead she had to keep her eyes on the road ahead. She was an average driver, but this was under weird circumstances so she kept on forgetting what she was doing. Her father, meanwhile, was watching the road behind them with great concern. If he was thinking right, this would not be a simple get away. Nadir would probably get into his suit to hunt them down. They were fighting a losing battle, and he knew it. His only thoughts were to get Trinity to safety.

  


***

  


Nadir watched his father and step-sister ride away towards the fores as he flung another asprine into his mouth and crunched noisely. This was going to be easy. Just like shooting fish in a barrel, he thought smiling, then stopped to ponder. Why in the world would you ever do such a thing. I mean really...why would one have fish in a ...oh, never mind!

One of his soldiers came up behind him and saluted. "Your suit is ready to fly, Sir," the soldier said stiffly and sharply.

"Thank you," Nadir said briskly, turning around. "Don't let the others follow; I'm going alone."

"Yes, Sir."

Nadir walked out onto the back lawn and over to his suit that was bent over so he could get in easily. Once inside, he switched the large machine on and looked outside as the house began to fade behind him. Soon this all will be mine, he thought with a smile.

His suit was relatively slow, but it caught up with the small bike in no time. He aimed his gun at the bike, carefully so as not to hurt it's passengers. He was going to enjoy this.

  


***

  


They had entered the forest, and now she could hardly see two feet in front of her. I hope that cliff isn't too close, she thought in a semi-panicked mood. This is not good. Trinity heard the large suit behind her and stepped on the gas, but it was no use, the only thing she could hope for was that a sudden meteor was fall from the heavens and hit his suit. She had no such luck as the suit released one single bullet that threw both her and her father from the bike.

The bullet hit the back tire, causing the bike's back to line up with it's front. First, the bike spun to face the forest, and Trinity flew off over the front of it and landed on her shoulder in a pile of leaves. Her father though was tossed off the bike backwards onto his back in the middle of the rode.

Trinity's world was going black. The only thing that kept her awake was the scene of her mother dying being played over and over in her head every time she closed her eyes. Feeling the wet stain of tears surging down her face, she forced herself to stay awake. She slowly got up off the throbbing shoulder and was about to walk to her father when she saw that her brother had beaten her there.

Her father was standing up to face his son face to face. Nadir was standing just a few feet away from him as he got to his feet. The two grown men stood before each other like statues, grand men of different ideals. They seemed to be alone in the world, fighting each other with their gazes, and even though Trinity stood within feet of them, she felt like she had been disconnected from the two. 

"Nadir. What have you done? You have killed my wife, taken hold of my house, and now you try to kill your sister and me? What have you become?" Her step-father's eyes glowed with both sadness and hatred as he looked into his son's face. "What has he done to you?!"

"He has done nothing to me that I haven't wanted myself. Don't you understand, father? This is war. I need the power to rule, and to get that from you, you must die. I will be the only one of the family left to take this power, and I will use it to win this war for the grand cause. You never really were my father though, so I feel no sadness in killing you. You gave my sister the only thing that I ever wanted. You disowned me when I began this war. You are not a father, and because of this, I will kill you and you're precious daughter who you don't even have a blood tie with," Nadir said coldly.

"Power? This is all you want?! You're heart and blood has frozen in space. Because of this, you may no longer call yourself my son."

"Fine," Nadir said, taking out his gun, "then good bye, stranger."

"No!!" Trinity yelled as Nadir pulled the trigger. "Father!!"

The great man's body shook once and the once tall standing man stumbled before his own son. Nadir watched the body of his father fall the ground and then turned on his sister.

"Fathers. It seems that more than one father has betrayed their children this night," a slick grin spread over his face.

Trinity just stared at her brother. The pain in her shoulder and her heart was weighing her down. She dropped to her knees, and soon she fell forward as the blackness closed in. Father. . . was the last thought that went through her mind.

  
***

Trinity woke as she felt a sharp slap across her face. She found herself propped up against a tree and looked down at her feet and saw that to one, there was a rope with a large brick tied to it. She glanced up and was met by the face of her brother.

"You have been sleeping long enough," he told her, "now it is time to see who is stronger."

He yanked her too her feet by pulling on her shoulder. She screamed as pain flooded back from into her body through her bruised shoulder, but soon her was on her feet.

"We will fight here, with swords," Nadir said, pointing to the open area. " The weight on your foot is to keep you from jumping off the edge of the cliff into the river. If you do, you will be pulled down to the bottom and drown."

Trinity gazed around her; the clearing was almost completely clear of anything but grass for about fifty feet. She wouldn't be able to run away because he would be able to shoot her easily. It did not look good.

"Take out you're sword," Nadir said as he took out his and stood next to her," and pick a starting spot."

  
  
  


***

  


Duo and Quatre had made it to the river finally. They had to walk on foot because there were not trails or roads near it since the river was the only thing that would fit in the small area between two cliff edges. The sides were at least the height of a four-story building. The fall wouldn't kill you, but it would sure hurt, so they decided not to climb the walls and dive off the edge.

Duo had taken off his shoes and was already swimming in the chilly water when he heard a shrill scream from above. He looked up and saw no one. Maybe it was just his imagination. But I could have sworn. . . he just shrugged it off. He had some thinking to do. Whenever he tried to go underwater and swim, he would be reminded on Hildy and would have to come back to the surface gasping for breath.

He was hurt inwardly by the death of his close friend. He just wouldn't show it to the guys. Quatre probably knew how he felt because he had a knack for knowing those kinds of things, but he would keep his mouth shut. Duo just didn't want the other guys knowing he had such deep emotions. The others never showed any emotion hardly at all and Duo kept his in keep by putting a happy-go-lucky mask on every time he felt a different emotion. He turned around to see Quatre cannon ball into the water right next to him and splash Duo with the ice-cold water.

"Take that stinky boy!" Quatre yelled as he swam to the cliff side.

"This means war you know, blondie!" Duo yelled back, swiftly swimming after his blonde friend.

  


***

  


Trinity slowly walked over to the edge of the cliff. She felt like her whole body would explode right there and then. She could hardly walk she felt so stiff. She looked over the edge and down into the river. I have a better chance living with the fall than I do fighting him. I can hardly move.

Nadir walked over to Trinity,"So are you ready?"

Trinity just replied,"You know you'll win. I could never kill you. Plus, I can hardly move. Maybe I'll just spare you time and take my chance with the fall." She lifted her middle finger on her right hand up in salute before she swiftly moved over to the edge.

"No!" Nadir screamed,"You coward!" The golden blond rushed as quickly as she neared the edge.

Trinity whirrled around to face him before pushing off with one foot over the edge. "You're wrong." Her dark hair flew around her face as she began to plumit downward, Nadir's scrowling face was the last thing she ever expected to see.

Her body wracked with the jolt as she broke the calm surface and swiftly fell to the bottom of the ten-foot river. She struggled against the weight of the brick, but it was just too heavy; she was doomed. For the second time that day, the blackness was starting to come.

***

Both Quatre and Duo had seen someone fall, but Duo was the faster of the two to swim down after her, silently thanking the fact that becoming a pilot had required extensive swimming lessons. He saw the reason why the person hadn't come back to the surface; he or she was weighed down by a brick tied to their leg.

Duo quickly swam down towards the struggling figure. Soon the person's movements became less frantic. Danmit! That person is dying! Swim faster! Duo thought to himself. He soon reached the body and untied the rope. He lifted the person's body to the surface and soon they broke out of the water. 

Duo started swimming towards the shore, carrying the girl's body with him. He set the girl onto the beach and checked to see if the girl was breathing. She was. Her short, brown clung to her white face, her dark eyelashes covering her closes eyes. Then the girls eyes opened slightly, revealing dark brown eyes that matched her wet hair. A small smirk covered her face. "You could've swam faster you know..." Her eyes shut as she slipped into the dream world.

"Do you know who she is?" Duo spun around to face Quatre who was running up to the two on the beach. The blonde pilot just looked the girl once over and slowly nodded. He knelt next to the two and felt for the girl's paulse.

Quatre straightened up and looked around the area. "We should bring her back. Whatever or whoever she was running from probably will search the area for her body after awhile. I just wonder what could have caused her to take that leap."

Duo brushed aside the brown strands of hair that stuck onto her wet face. There were splatters of something that hadn't been fully washed off by the water when she hit it. His hand retracted as he glanced towards Quatre to see if he had noticed; the face of his friend answered his question posotively. It was a stain that Duo had seen all too often; the dark stain that one couldn't ever truly wash away though it's physical appearance had disappeared entirely. Blood.

  


***


	4. Aurora

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Four

"Aurora"

By Magic

The five sat in the living room, surrounding the computer Heero had set up in the apartment. After a bit, he removed his hands from the keyboard and leaned back in this chair as if trying to decide what to do about something. "Well, she's defiantly Trinity Renada. That much we know for sure." 

  
  


Duo winced at the mention of the name and went back to pacing around the room. 

  
  


"The question," Wufei declared, "would be as to what we are going to do with her."

  
  


Quatre glanced up from where he sat down on the chair. His eyes seemed slightly sad as he glanced towards Duo, then Wufei. "You guys really think that we should get rid of her don't you."

  
  


Though there was no response, it was quite obvious what the other two thought of her. The tension in the room built, and Duo kept glancing over towards the bedroom where Trinity Renada was now sleeping. It was ironic when he thought about it, that the girl he had just saved was the sister to the man he wished to kill the most in the world. His fists clenched, then unclenched as he attempted to control his anger.

  
  


Trowa's keen eye had seen the action. "We know you're suffering, Duo, but I don't think we should do anything until we know where she stands."

  
  


"Trowa," Quatre said, and then he smiled. "I agree with Trowa."

  
  


Wufie snorted from the corner. "She's no good, I'm telling you. The enemy's own spawn living with us right under our noses? Eugh. Give me one good reason why she should stay with us!"

  
  


"Shhh!" The others turned to shush him, each looking quite angry.

  
  


Heero stopped his ceiling gazing that he had started a minute ago and sat up in his chair. "I'll give you a reason then." He paused for the dramatic effect. "We have no idea what is going on with this war, and it doesn't look like we're going to be able to find out. Nadir isn't the leader of whatever is going on, but I'd have to guess if we can get to him, the real head of this business will show eventually..."

  
  


Duo flopped down onto the couch as he went over the idea. "So, in a nut shell, what you're saying is that we use her for bait?"

  
  


"It's quite clear that Nadir wants to get after her. She'll eventually lead us to him," the spandex one explained.

"But what if she is actually with Nadir and tells him where the Gundam pilots are? We'd be screwed if you ask me, though I'm not afraid of tangling with Renada in the least," Wufie pointed out, doubt shadowing his voice as he obviously didn't think much about the plan.

  
  


"We don't have to tell her anything," Trowa pointed out as he crossed his arms. "But to pull this off without her knowing, Duo's going to have to control his anger towards her family...and her."

  
  


All eyes glanced towards Duo as the four faces waited in anticipation for his answer. 

  
  


"To get to Renada, I'll do anything."

  


***

Trinity woke up in a dark room. She felt okay except for the pain in her right shoulder and the pain in her stomach. She sat up to look at the damage to her right shoulder as her stomach growled. It sounded a lot like a pack of angry wolves. "It always comes back around to food, doesn't it?" She grumbled as she got out of bed to look at her surroundings. 

The room was pretty plain, kind of like a hotel room, with just a bed, table and a bathroom which she entered shortly after getting off the bed. It was a nice sized bathroom, but she didn't care about that now, she had to go. After relieving herself, she looked at herself in the mirror. What was reflected there was a mask of sadness. Only then did she remember what had happened the night before.

She felt a tear start to trickle down her face, but she quickly wiped it away and looked herself in the eyes. She refused to get all sad and gloomy. I will lock away all of those feelings, she said as she ordered herself, no one will ever know who I really am. I will be alone with myself. She looked into the mirror and tried to smile. It came slowly at first, but soon she looked as happy as she did before her step-brother had ruined her life. I actually look happy. I will make a different person, Trinity thought, I will make a person to cover up Trinity. She will be happy-go-lucky and she won't have an insane brother Nadir. Her smile grew as she thought of starting a new life. I need a name. Hummm. I might as well be called the "Angel of Death", she thought as she remembered the death of her parents, but she didn't think the board of education would take that one. Trinity had no idea what so ever to name herself. She had never really had to name anyone, let alone herself, so this was going to be difficult. Well, umm. . . She thought as she glared at herself in the mirror. I think I look like an......Aurora. whatever, good enough. She almost laughed at the thought of introducing herself as the "Angel of Death, Aurora". I think I'll just say Aurora. Now for a last name...oh...whatever. She took Renada and flung it around backwards. Aurora Adaner. Tada! Here I am. She did a few weak tap steps across the tiled floor while giving her reflection the best "jazz hands" ever.

She smiled a real smile and snorted a bit at her own stupidity.

Trinity got out of the bathroom and walked to the door. She opened it up just a crack so that she could see into the room. The room was pretty much like a living room with coaches, carpet, and a few windows. At the far end of the room there was a stove and a refrigerator. She looked back towards the coaches in front of her. 

There were two boys that she could see in the room. Both of them looked to be about her age, either fifteen or sixteen. One of them was blonde and fair skinned. He had a kind look to him that made him kind of seem like a little puppy. Trinity almost laughed, I don't think he'd like being called a puppy, she thought. The other boy was taller than the blonde, even sitting down. His hair kind of flipped over his whole head until it seemed to levitate over his face. How in the world does he get it to stay like that? Trinity tried to open the door just a crack more to see the other voice she heard talking, but it squeaked and gave away her position.

Both of the boys' heads turned towards the door, and Trinity thought now was the best time to make her entrance. She slowly opened the door and walked into the light of the living room. She could now see that there was in fact five boys in the room and one girl. One of the boys had his hair slicked back so tight that she thought it might pull his Chinese looking face off. The boy sitting in front of a computer was a dark looking boy who didn't really look like he had any emotion left in him. The last boy was lying on the couch. His eyes where Trinity's favorite color and what was most noticeable was he was wearing a priest's outfit. His hair continued down his back all the way to his butt in a long braid. Good gracious! He's got longer hair than I do! Trinity thought, smiling again. Trinity looked towards the girl that was standing next to the dark boy. Is that Relena Peacecraft?!? Trinity was about to ask when the blonde haired boy started to speak.

He got off of the chair and stood up right next to her and said, "Hello. I'm Quatre Rebarba Winner," he put his hand out for her to shake," I'm glad to see you're finally awake."

Trinity took his hand and shook it. Winner?!? She thought. What if he recognizes me? But I've never seen him, so I don't see how he could. I thought the heir to the Winner business was missing or something. What the heck is he doing here? Then she looked around the room at the others and tried not to sound shy as she said, "And you guys have names too, right?"

The girl started first, saying what Trinity had expected, that she was Relena Peacecraft, and then she looked at the dark boy next to her. He looked up and right into Trinity's eyes." I'm Heero Yuy," he said stiffly, and he ignored Trinity's questioning eyes as he went back to thinking about something. Trinity looked the Heero up and down and had to stifle a laugh as she saw that he was wearing a very tight pair of spandex. Interesting, she thought. She then turned towards the Chinese boy.

"I'm Wufei," he said in a voice that was anything but welcoming. He looked right at her and said, "I was surprised you survived that fall, being a women and all."

Trinity was about to answer back when the boy with the magic floating hair got up in front of her and took her hand. "I'm Trowa Barton," he said plainly.

Trinity looked at him and smiled. He had saved her the trouble of thinking of a comeback for Wufei. Trinity then looked over to the boy on the couch and asked, "I do hope you have a name or I'll just have to make one up for you, Braidy-Boy."

The boy almost leaped off of the couch and walked up to her, his eyes shining mischievously and with a hint of something else. "Yes, I do happen to have a name, but I would like to know yours first, Bean-Pole."

She winced as he called her the least favorite name in the world. Sure, she was tall but that really didn't matter, did it? She knew she was going to say Aurora, but something in the boy's eyes demanded something out of her. She thought about the death of her parents and then it hit her. She then reached for "Braidy's" outstretched hand and said her practiced name," I'm Aurora Adaner, the Angel of Death."

The simple sentence had many different affects on the other people in the room. Wufei smirked at Trinity, Heero laughed which was more of a short snort, Relena dropped her tea cup, Quatre smiled almost sadly, Trowa, well, Trowa didn't do much at all, and "Braidy's" chin looked like it was magnetically attracted to the floor as his mouth dropped open, and he just stared at her. "And who might you be? Or shall I just call you Braidy?" Trinity asked, pretending that nothing had happened.

The boy picked his chin off of the floor and said," Duo Maxwell." He gave her a very odd glance that she couldn't quite place before sitting back down on the couch.

"Well, hello, Duo."

That was fallowed by silence until Trintiy decided to break it. "So, who exactly are you guys?"

Again a change of emotion was put into action, but this time all of the boys' faces were an expression of nothing. They went on looking as if they were just normal people, and they didn't say anything for a long time as if they were all contemplating on how exactly to answer that very question. 

"We're nobody important," Heero said after looking up again.

"Erm, actually I'll just spit it out, whose side are you guys on?" Trinity questioned as her hands landed on her hips and she stared at them all.

"What?" asked all of the guys at the same time.

"You know, in the war. Who do you guys side with, Renada or the confused citizens?"

"The people," was Trowa's emotionless answer.

Duo went back to laying down on the couch as if he thought this was going to be a long conversation. He looked back up at the ceiling and said," We're just kind of guys that resist the separation of the colonies. We don't really do anything BIG. . .we just help out with some of the battles, that's all."

There was an edge to his voice that told Trinity that he wasn't saying everything to her that he really wanted to, but she let it slide as Quatre went on with," You could fight with us, if you're on our side, but you look more like the type that should be in school, and not on the battle field."

"Yes, please do go back to school. We have not need for a woman here," Wufei said, and he received a glare from everyone in the room.

Duo laughed," Lighten up, Wufei. You know perfectly well that women can fight just as well as men." Wufei turned and looked at Duo as if he was absolutely mad.

"Humph," was Wufei's answer.

"Stop, you guys. What we need to know, Aurora, is who's side you're on, and we need to know now," Heero said, looking at her coolly.

"I'm on the people's side, though I don't think there should be a war at all," Trintiy said as she watched Heero's eyes thaw, a little.

"Good," said Trowa."Then I guess we can give you back this." He reached for a small wrapped parcel on the left side of his chair and handed it to her.

"My sword!" she yelled, shaking the windows and making everyone wince. She hadn't even noticed it wasn't as her side. She looked the weapon up and down and found that it was unharmed by last nights events.

  
  


Suddenly the realization that her parents were dead hit her. She put of a fake Aurora face and just kept looking over the sword. Her eyes were filling with tears as she thought that she had no place to go and no one to turn to. These guys are nice but I don't know them. They would much rather that I left. I could go to a different school and start my life over, she thought, but I want to . . . what do I want? Can I actually be thinking about staying and fighting? That's insane. . . but do I ever want to make trouble for Nadir. "You guys have been much more than kind to me, and I would really like to fight with you, but I really need to settle down someplace and get a place to stay. Last night...I was kicked out of my house, and I don't exactly have anywhere to go."

"You can stay with me," said Relena. "I'll sign you up for school and you can stay in my dorm on the school grounds."

"Deal," Trinity said. "But I don't have anything besides my sword and the clothes on my back. I have no way to repay you for anythi. . . "

She was cut off by Relena saying, "I don't want anything. Any ally to us is like a gift. Here, come with me to my dorm now and you can get situated."

Trinity was surprised by her generosity, but didn't really have any choice but to accept. It's almost like these guys want me to be here even more badly than I do...Trinity erased the thought from her head.

Trinity nodded good-bye to all of the guys before leaving with Relena. She walked in silence as she followed the famous girl out of the tall building and into her pink limo. I hate pink, Trinity thought as she climbed in, every bone in her body aching. She fell asleep almost immediately and didn't wake up until Relena tried shaking her shoulder to wake her up. 

"Auwwww!!!!!!!" Trintiy screamed loud enough to wake the dead. 

"What?!?" Relena inquired, terrified.

Trinity just pulled back her sleeve and looked at the bruised shoulder.

"How on Earth did you get that?" Relena said, half out of morbid curiosity and half out of fear for Trinity's shoulder.

"I fell off the side of a cliff, remember?" Trinity said shortly as she got out of the limo. All she needed was a nosey girl asking her a bunch of questions, even if she was the nosey girl that was giving her a room, money, clothing, and, most importantly, food.

Relena seemed to think that was a good enough answer, and she got out of the limo too. She led Trinity past the modern looking school house and towards a bunch of smaller buildings. They were quiet ugly and dull looking on the outside, but inside they looked quiet nice. Relena's room was luckily on the first floor and right near the elevator. She told Trinity the combination and told her to make herself at home as she went to register Trinity for school. 

Trinity walked into the dorm by herself and relaxed finally. She didn't even look at anything as she walked over to the couch and flopped down. She had already forgotten that she was hungry in the need for more sleep. Soon she was snoring and off counting sheep.

  


***

  


In a few days, Trinity was all ready to go to school. She woke up early to prepare herself for her first day of school, to find that Relena had already left for the guys house. A note was left on the table, telling her that there was something that the guys needed to do, and that she would be home late. Trinity shook her head. She didn't know what kind of fighting was going on, but she had wanted to go too.

She left the room and started to walk down the stairs when she was hit by a flying object. She was slammed against the wall by the weight of this object, and as she picked her aching body off of the floor, she was offered a hand by the object.

"I'm so so so so so sorry!" said the object as she helped Trinity off the floor. The object, or rather person, was a girl probably Trinity's age, with shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes. "I'm really sorry for smashing you into the wall, but I am going to be late for class!" The girl started to turn around to dash towards the lobby area, when she turned back to face Trinity. "Wait. . . you're new aren't you? Sorry. I thought I knew you. Oops! Well, my name is Hannah. And yours is?"

"Aurora," Trinity said as she picked her books off of the floor. "And I really don't care that you plowed me into the wall. At least I don't have to walk to class alone." Trinity faced Hannah and smiled,"if you don't mind."

"No, no, no! Of course I don't mind. It'll be good to have someone to walk with for a change," was Hannah's response as she walked towards the door and beckoned for Trinity to follow. "Come on. It won't do for both of us to be late."

Trinity followed Hannah to the class building. Class went really slow for Trinity, and she was glad when it was over. She really didn't care about where commas went in different kinds of subordinate clauses; this wasn't necessary to get through the rest of her life. The class was dismissed to lunch, and Hannah invited Trinity to come eat with her.

"What did you mean when you said that it would be nice to have someone to walk with 'for once'?" Trinity asked once they had sat down.

"Well, let's get this straight. Most people in the colonies, especially this one, don't want to get involved in this war, but after the murder of the whole Renada family, Nadir Renada has changed most of the students minds towards fighting. He came to this school a couple days ago, right after the death of his father, and gave this big speech on why he was fighting and most of the students ideas changed towards fighting. I'm one of the few that don't want there to be a war, and I don't mind if everyone knows it. All I want to know now is if you're with Renada or not." 

Trinity looked down at her food. "I'm with you. What do you people do for fun around this boring place?" She poked around the vegetable like substance that ran over her plate.

"Oh, you're asking for fun? Well, there is a costume ball at the Renada estate in three days. The big 'hibby, jibby' Renada himself isn't going to be there, but everyone in the school is going. I, myself, am going as Sailor Saturn."

"From Sailor Moon?" Trinity asked.

"Yep, I can help you make a costume if you wan. . . "

Hannah was interrupted by a familiar voice behind Hannah. "So how is you're new friend?" asked Dorothy Catelonia.

"Leave me alone, Double Brow Dorothy," growled Hannah angrily. She flung some the green stuff in the general direction of the doubl-browed adversary. 

"Oh, you know how much I hate that name. I only asked a simple question."

"If I tell you, will you move your stupid self away from here?" Hannah obviously wasn't one of much patience with this girl.

"If that is what you wish."

"Fine," Hannah said standing up to face Dorothy. "This is Aurora, Dorothy. Aurora, this is Double-Brow Dorothy." Hannah turned to face Aurora and crossed her eyes in annoyance.

Trinity finally dared to stand up and looked 'Double-Brow' Dorothy, her niece, in the eye. The name suits her well, Trinity thought with a smirk, I just pray she doesn't recognize me.

Dorothy did a little bow and said,"Yes, as Hannah put it one way of another, I am Dorothy Catelonia. It is a pleasure to meet you." She looked right into Trinity's face and asked," What was your name again? Oh yes, how very nice to meet you, 'Aurora'."

Oh well, so the false name doesn't work with everyone. It was a good try. "Nice to meet you too, Dorothy. Now if you don't mind, we have to be getting to class."

"I don't mind at all. See you around," Dorothy said with a smirk as she whirled around and walked away. Her long blonde hair was the last that could be seen of her swooshing down the hallway.

Oh shit, Trinity thought, this is not good. She slowly regained her composure and wondered, "You where saying?" Trinity asked Hannah.

"Oh yeah," Hannah said as she picked up her books and walked next to Trinity, "I could help you make your costume."

"I can't sew at all, so I'll take you up on it," Trinity said," but what the heck should I go as?"

"I don't know! I just met you remember!"

"Okay, okay!" Trinity said waving her arms at Hannah in defeat. "I'll think about it tonight."

The rest of the day was just made of classes and boring speeches by teachers. Finally, Trinity said good-bye to Hannah and went into her and Relena's room. She still wasn't back so Trinity just made herself supper, did her homework, and got ready for bed. She fell asleep almost immediately and drifted off into a strange dream. 

  
  


*~*Wobbly, wiggly, fading in and out, corners fuzzy*~* ( in other words, this is her dream).

Trinity was standing next to her brother, and he was trying to kill her step-father. She couldn't stop him, and as her father fell to the ground he muttered to Trinity,"So my daughter has become the Angel of Death." Then suddenly she was back with the guys that she had met the day after her brother lost his marbles. They wanted to know who she was, and they wouldn't leave her alone. Finally she just yelled out," Leave me alone! I'm the Angel of Death!!" But they wouldn't listen, and suddenly her brother came into the room and shot them all in front of her. The blood danced upon the ground as she could only watch in horror as they got torn apart by Nadir "No!!!" She screamed helplessly as she watched her new friends fall to the floor. Nadir then spun around to face her, "You couldn't save them you monster!" He raised his sword for the finishing blow---

Trinity woke up half in shock and sweating fiercely. Well, at least I know what I'm going to be at the ball, Trinity thought as she wiped sweat from her face. She could see the sun rising outside the window and decided to get up anyway. She flung on her uniform dressed and sauntered over to Hannah's room. 

"Hannah? Hannah!? Get your lazy butt up!" Trinity yelled from outside the door. She pounded on the door and was surprised that it opened. "Hannah?"

She walked over to her friends bed and shook her to try to get her up.

"Hannah! Get up!"

"Va duh ya wan at sixh ho'clok in duh mornin'?" was Hannah's response, as she curled deeper down into the blanket. There was absolutely no way that she was going to get up before at least seven o'clock unless someone was dying or there was fire around the area.

"I know what I want to go to the ball as."

"Well, gah fa u, now geh outah my site," Hannah mumbled as she rolled over to her other side. 

"Okay, you asked for it!"

"Fa wah?" Hannah inquired lazily. Her question was soon answered as she was engulfed in a wave of cold water. "What the?!?" she yelled as she dove out of her bed. She looked over to Trinity who was laughing so hard she could hardly stand up.

Hannah looked up, still rather dazed, having no idea who she was looking at, picked up a funny looking sock off of her night stand and chucked it at Trinity with pin-point accuracy. It hit the still laughing Trinity right between the eyes. Then Hannah picked up a large roll of something that could be identified as a green roll of duct tape getting ready to sound it's war cry, when Trinity finally picked herself up and held her arms out in defeat.

"Okay, Okay! Next time, I'll bring caffeine!!!!" Trinity shouted at the same as Hannah rolled herself into bed and put her green comforter over her head.

"You better," she mumbled from under the sheets," or I'll really have to hurt you next time."

"Sheesh, okay," Trinity grumbled. This had probably been her most life 

"Yah, okay, so I'm not a morning person. Sue me!!! All I can give you is my carpet. . . it's green."

"Well, what's the point in being a morning person when you have Double-Brow Dorothy in the room next to you," Trinity pointed out.

"Yeah, she always comes over with hors d'oeurvres. What does she think this is a restaurant?"

"I understand," Trinity said as she backed away slowly.

"Oh yeah, and Trinity. . . where's my damn caffeine?"

In one minute flat, Trinity made a hot mocha chino for Hannah to 'wake up on'. She walked back into the room and stayed about five feet away from Hannah's bed at all times as she handed her friend the hot caffeinated drink.

"Do I smell. . . mocha chino with three sugars and low fat cream?" Hannah asked, sitting upright in her bed, ready to drink the smoldering wake up call.

"Yeah, how did you know that?"

"You're not the first person who's tried to wake me up without caffeine. See that human shaped indent in that wall over there?" She pointed to what looked very much like a human's body outline imprinted in the wall next to Hannah's bed. The plaster was cracked around the edge and it generally looked like someone had ran into it at mach speed.

"Yes..."

"That was the headmaster. Wasn't too happy. But then again, neither was I."

"I see... ummm, you happy now?"

"Ummmmm...mocha chino," she said as she handed the now empty glass to Trinity. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, well, ummm. . . "

"Spit it out already! I'm still not all the way awake and I don't have any patience without my shower!!!" Hannah lept out of bed and started running around, getting her shower preparations in line. There was, of course, a rubber ducky involved.

"Yeah! Well, I know what you can make me for the ball."

"Oh really," Hannah said, her eyes starting to show a spark. "What?"

"I'm the Angel of Death," Trinity said with a smile creeping onto her lips.

"Alright! Death!!!! Great! Now, now can I make you deathish!" Hannah screamed, laughing at her new word.

"Black. Lots of black."

"Do you want a cape...and something pointy?"

"Yes. I've got the something pointy in my backpack," Trinity declared, taking out the long sword, the jeweled sheath glittering slightly in the sun that happened to flitter through the closed blinds. 

"Ooooo, LONG SWORD!"

"Sage!" Trinity squealed with delight.

"SEIJI!!! It was almost as if the two had a connection psychically about hot, sexy anime guys. This would be hard to prove wrong as it wasn't the only time the two would think exactly the same thing in their long friendship (though, it would usually from that point on, be about food). They screamed loudly for about half an hour, creating something interesting for walkers by to hear, and also summoned Double-Brow Dorothy to the scene of the crime.

"Hello! I brought hors d'oeurvres!"

"GO AWAY!!!" Trinity and Hannah screamed in unison. They were both very eager to get started on the costume and the ball was that very night. No matter what, Trinity was going to get back into her house and possibly take a few things with her this time so she could live like a normal person (who's brother is cracked). 

After shoving Double-Brow Dorothy out the door, the new friends began making Trinity into death. The worst was measuring; not cool, but soon the day rushed by in a whirl wind of black fabric and pointy objects. Not to mention the occasional duct tape rolls flying across the room to hit Trinity as a signal for her to stop moving. Soon they were both in their costumes and ready to leave for the ball.

  


***


	5. Fun With Staple Guns

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Five

"Fun with Staple Guns"

By Magic and the Little Fairy From Nam

Trinity couldn't help feeling like Cinderella, sad as it was and all. The day had gone perfect, except for maybe the five AM mocha chino was a bad idea, not really the caffeine part, just the five AM part. Just remember, Trinity. Never wake up Hannah without caffeine, or else a good plan of escape. She now had the perfect costume. Hannah was defiantly a genius of the sewing machine. She had made her black wings that could flap if she pressed a button on the palm of her hand. The dress was 'death' (or as others would say, black) and was just like any other angel costume; long, wavy and made out of this really soft, silky material Trinity couldn't pronounce.

She looked over at her at her friend and saw the perfect image of Sailor Saturn. Even her hair was black, a wig obviously. She even carried a 'fake' Silence Glaive, which Trinity found to fun to swing at people as they walked down the street, although when Hannah got it back, she took a few whacks at the back of her head for good measure.

"Hey! Don't touch my Silence Glaive!" Hannah yelled as passers stared.

"Okay! I'll just point my sword at people," Trinity said.

"If you must... just don't touch my glaive. And be careful, that thing's real!"

"Yes. I know, Hannah."

"I think the raspberry juice on your sword was the perfect touch. If I hadn't seen you put it on, I might be a little afraid."

"Yes, that's the point," Trinity said sarcastically.

"Don't make me hurt you again, you might lose more brain cells, and we all know you need to save those for a rainy day!"

"Don't make me remind you that this sword is real."

"So! I sharpen my glaive!"

"It's cardboard! How could you sharpen it!"

"I have my ways." 

"I don't want to know. . . "

"I know you don't."

By that time they had reached Trinity's old house, the Renada's estate, she had taken more than 'a few' whacks to the back of her head. They were greeted by an old man that showed them the way to the ball room. Trinity's stomach sank down into her legs as she looked around her old house once again. It wasn't exactly the greatest thing to be back again, given the circumstances, but she didn't really have much of a choice. She was almost compelled to go back.

"Wow!" Hannah said, looking around as she spun with her head up, gazing at the high ceiling.

"Yeah, it's okay," Trinity said, receiving a puzzled look from Sailor Saturn.

"You act like you live here!" The blonde poked her with the Silence Glaive, before she went back to her house gazing. "Ooo! Ancient Chinese pottery...and the colors go so well! Wow! We should have come here for housing!" She stopped starring at everything after a few minutes and asked the Angel of Death, "Shall we go?"

"Let's shall." (We really need help with grammar. . . or at least I do. . .too many hits on the head).

***

"Must we do this?" Wufei wined as the others pulled him through the gates of the Renada estate. He didn't exactly want to be sociable and he truly didn't want to dress up like he had to. In fact, he hadn't even changed his costume at all since he had refused to, even at Heero's gun point to dress up like Satan. 

  
  


Heero sighed deeply as his lipstick smeared all over his face again. "Listen. Just go into the house and see if you can find anything on Nadir. That's your mission. The rest of us are going to look out to see if we can spot anyone unusual at the party." He wasn't exactly in the best of moods; dressing up like Relena wasn't his favorite thing to do, but the other guy's had forced him into it (rather, Relena had, the other guys had nothing on him). He adjusted his gun that now resided in his pantyhose and stiffly walked up the stairs to the building. The others, but Wufei who was going to find another way in without looking too suspicious, followed behind.

  
  


***

Hannah and Trinity were having a great time residing right next to the hors d'oeurvre table as they sipped on their punch. Trinity had no idea who anyone else was in the building, and Hannah didn't seem like she had very many friends around so they just talked amongst themselves while munching on random things, with the exception of caviar. Trinity found it a bit odd that Hannah didn't have any close ties with anyone around, but she didn't want to bring up the subject of friends just in case Hannah would ask about hers. Then the subject could lead to family and that wasn't the best thing to talk about when you were faking an identity. 

A flash of bright green puffy pants could be seen through the crowd.

Trinity blinked a couple of times before she realized who she had just seen. It must have been the bangs that tipped her off. "Hey! It's those guys!" She grabbed Hannah's wrist and pulled her away from the punch bowl which she was currently raiding. Punch went everywhere, but the two didn't seem to notice as they whisked across the room. Trinity came to a quick stop before six people standing and staring strangely at her as she ran up to them.

It was kind of hard to tell who was who, except for the fact that Relena was defiantly Heero and Heero was Relena. It was actually quite funny seeing the two of them in drag, dressed up like each other. The others wore other random costumes. Trinity pulled Hannah out from behind her and said, "Hannah, let me introduce you to the guys and Relena."

"Alrighty!" The blonde pepped in. She was still wearing off the effects of the sugar loaded punch she'd had six glaces of just a bit before.

"Okay, the girl is actually a guy, as you can see, and his name is Heero Yuy. Heero, this is Hannah."

Heero grunted in reply. His pantyhose were riding up again.

"The girl that looks like a guy, is actually a girl and her name is Relena.. . . ."

"Relena Peacecraft?!?"

"Yes. Relena, this is Hannah."

"Nice to meet you, Hannah."

"Yeah," was Hannah's reply."You're friends with Double-Brow Dorothy, aren't you?"

Trinity didn't want Relena to have to answer that so she said," and the Barbie, happens to be a guy and his name is Quatre Rebara Winner."

"Barbie?!" Hannah asked, cocking one eyebrow and glancing over at the blonde standing in the group. He was wearing a pretty pink tutu like dress with lots of sparkly things glued on in random places, a large bow in his hair, pink of course, and more make up than even Heero had on.

"Well, with twenty-nine sisters , you don't have much choice in the matter. Plus, they all like doing make-overs," Quatre said blushing slightly.

"Oh you poor boy, " Hannah said with mach sympathy as she attempted to keep herself back from completely cracking up. This, of course, was very hard because she hadn't seen anything that funny since the time her French teacher had tripped over a desk, flew across half of the room, and not only ripped her pants but also was able, with what she called great talent, end up without her shirt on when she stood up. It remains a mystery to this day as to how this was actually preformed.

"Okay, Quatre. And the tall clown, standing emotionlessly in the corner is Trowa." Trinity smirked at her label of 'emotionless' for as far as she could tell, she hadn't ever seen Trowa crack a smile ever.

"Humm...clown...I like clowns...I also like hair that defies the laws of gravity, "Hannah whispered so that only Trinity could hear.

"And this is Braidy," Trinity said with a smirk as she pointed to Duo who was wearing a black cap and holding a scythe. Duo gave her an angry glare, and he almost seemed like he was going to pounce on her and beat her to death with a stick; Trinity didn't know why he was over reacting so much.

"Yeah, but what about Trowa?" Hannah asked as she starred at the magical haired guy.

Trowa walked over to Hannah and held out hand to shake. "I don't have a name, you can call me No Name if you like."

"I have a name, it's Hannah, but you can call me Snotty Hampsterchuncks if you like," Hannah said as emotionlessly as Trowa.

Trinity couldn't take it though (surprise, surprise). She burst laughing so loud, even Duo was caught unawares, causing her wings to flap, smacking Heero in the back of the head, causing him onto the refreshments table and into the big the big bowl of punch. Then everyone laughed, except for Trowa. Well, he just didn't see the humor. Now pies, that's funny. Knives, even better, Trowa thought to himself.

From across the room, you could hear the stifled cries of Duo Maxwell, being let out from under the punch bowl. It seemed that Heero didn't exactly like being laughed at. You would think that Duo would have caught on to this by now, but I guess not. Not everyone can be pilot 03.And obviously anyone can be pilot 02. Doesn't take much brain power, Trowa pondered as he watched the spectacle. 

With Duos cries being answered, the Angel of Death came to his rescue. Well, sort of. Trinity actually just kind of stuck her sword under Duo's butt and launched him into the air about 3 feet, and right into the cheese plate. At least he is out of Heero's way, Trinity mused. Duo slowly got out of the plate, and marched forward to Trinity. 

"Now just what do you think you're doing?!? asked Duo, his hair dripping magenta punch and not sure which hurt worse; his butt or his pride. He started cursing profusely as he dripped dry in the middle of the ball room.

"I was saving you from Heero you ungrateful fudger! You should be thanking me, not yelling at me!" Trinity screamed into his face. "You could still be in that punch bowl, and that's all Heero needs, broken glass!"

Duo was surprised at her outburst. Slowly, but surely a small smile emerged onto his face; she sure knew how to keep the party alive. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a orangish looking thing "Cheese?"

Trinity just glanced at it, then burst out laughing once again, though luckily everyone knew that they should really look out for her wings and they just dodged around them.

The laughs were all cut short by the appearance of Double-Brow Dorothy. It was an annoying entrance, with people stifling cries of horror as she walked past her peers to the group of generally annoyed looking (and emotionless) friends.

"What do you want, Double-Brow?" Hannah asked, just "slightly" annoyed.

"A wax job?" Trinity asked stepping next to her friend.

"No, I would just enjoy the pleasure of your company," she replied as Duo made a gagging noise in the background, and Quatre tried to make an escape that unfortunately for him, failed. Trowa stopped him, with a quick whisper of, "If we suffer, you suffer."

Dorothy walked over to Quatre and politely asked the squirming boy who was up against Trowa's grip if he would like to dance. Quatre thought about screaming bloody murder, but remember all those lessons about not yelling at ladies and being gracious and simply said, "I would be honored." Trowa just shook his head and pushed him towards the double-brow bitch.

As Dorothy pulled the wincing Quatre to the dance floor to dance to the perfectly time song "Barbie Girl", Trinity whispered to Hannah," Do you have the goods?"

The blonde shook her Silence Glaive and nodded. "The graveyard, midnight, you know which grave." She finished with the secret signal, rubbing her hands together, snapping her fingers, and ending with a clap, once. Then she walked over to the emotionless Trowa and stood before him, emotionless as well, until she cracked up and raised an eyebrow, and they just kind of stood there, looking like they were having the longest staring contest in the world, or were going bite each others faces off. Then Trinity had to pull Hannah away to do their "secret plan".

"Quatre, Dorothy," Hannah said threw clenched teeth," would you guys come over into the hall to talk to me and Aurora?"

They walked over into the dark side of the room, which just happened to be by the boys' bathroom. 

"Hold on a second, Dorothy, as we talk to Quatre," Trinity said as she turned away from the monster.

After two minutes of explaining what Quatre had to do, then finally turned back to Double-Brow.

"Dorothy, ummm. . . .lets go over here for a second, okay?" he said , pointing to the wall, by the bathrooms.

"Okay!" Dorothy said, happily choked up.

So they walked away towards the boys' bathroom. Dorothy really didn't know what she had coming. Anyway, they were followed closely by Trinity and Hannah, who were laughing and snickering the whole way.

"Poor Quatre,"Trinity whispered to Hannah.

"Oh come on! He knew the risks coming into this deal!" Hannah replied.

They watched as in horror as Quatre leaned in for the kill(. . . I mean kiss). They wanted to scream, but didn't dare give away their position. He got really close, started wrapping his arms around her, and suddenly pushed her into the bathroom (must I remind you that it's the boys') with silent cheers from Trinity and Hannah. They come walking over, trying not to look suspicious and gave Quatre the hand shake before diving into the boys' bathroom, as Quatre waited outside as point guard.

Dorothy looked around at the new surroundings, very confused and scared, kind of like a wild animal. Who'd a thunk that there could be a really ugly looking animal. . .with double-brows. She looked even more confused as Hannah walked in (or rather dived in) followed by Trinity who did an army roll. They had evil smirks on their faces, which didn't help Double-Brow any more.

"Where's Quatre?" 

"Standing guard...I mean he's been delayed,"" Hannah said. She then reached into Trinity's black backpack and pulled out a fully loaded staple gun, and all out grinned. 

"Now, you better get your stupid self into that end stall, quickly, or else Hannah over there might just feel like stapling you're lip to your double-brows, got it?" Trinity ordered.

Dorothy backed up as Hannah seemed to trying to pull her glaive apart by the middle; the glaive was winning.

"Here, I'll take the staple gun, you get the duct tape," Trinity said.

"You get to have all the fun... ooooo duct tape," Hannah said evilly as she handed her friend the staple gun. It took her awhile to finally pull the well made glaive in two and pull out eight fresh roles of blue and green duct tape. "Hehehe," she laughed quietly to herself. She then came at Double-Brow with full force of a charging rhino (a short charging rhino :::Fairy whacks Magic in the head with her Silence Glaive:::: ouch!). She shoved Double-Brow into the back of the stall and taped her screaming mouth shut.

"Just for now...we have to do your eyebrows!" Hannah said devilishly, before Double-Brow passed out.

"Plucky plucky!" Trinity said as she approached, carrying two large eyebrow clippers.

"One for me, one for you." Hannah said as she grabbed the torture instrument. Looking over at their prisoner she added, "Too bad she fainted."

"No kidding."

They began plucking away for ten minutes of tedious work, until Double-Brow Dorothy was no more. She was ExDouble- Brow Dorothy. "Oops, we each plucked off a different section on each brow," Trinity said as she stood back to marvel their handy work.

"I told you to clip the lower one! I can't reach the higher one!" Hannah screamed, waking up their prisoner.

"Wah happened?" ExDouble-Brow asked, rather confused about her surroundings.

"Nothing,"Trinity said simply," but now we have to duct tape you to the stall door."

"NO NO NO NO NO!!!!"

Hannah just simply picked up the staple gun and waved it around in reply.

"Ummmm okay?"

"That's a good Double-Brow...ExDouble-Brow," Hannah said, smirking.

"Come on! Get up and lean against the door! Our guard can only be there for so long!" Trinity yelled yanking the shorter ExDouble-Brow off of the toilet.

There was a short, yet painful struggle, as Trinity picked up ExDouble-Brow and held her against the swinging stall door. Hannah gladly taped the kicking Dorothy securely to the door maybe a little more than securely, but that's okay. (It's not my fault that DT is Hannah's favorite instrument for evil).

"I am Queen of the Green Duct Tape!!!" Hannah screamed her war cry, as did the duct tape, rrrrippppp. "I used to be Queen of all Duct Tape, but then I let you," she whirled to face Trinity, "Have the honor of being Queen of the Blue Duct Tape."

"And what an honor it is," Trinity said as she finished her last roll on Dorothy.

"So. . . what do you think?" Hannah said, standing back to look at their new masterpiece. It was a giant green and blue cocoon that covered everything but her face, so that you could see that Hannah was serious when she threatened Dorothy with the staple gun. Her bottom lip was actually stapled to her newly tweezed brows.

"I think it looks great," Trinity said.

"It's a masterpiece, but thought there should be more of a struggle."

"Oh well, shall we relieve the guard?" Trinity asked smiling.

"Yes, we shall."

They walked out of the boys' bathroom door and told Quatre to go have a look-see at their new masterpiece. He came out laughing so hard he could hardly walk, and all he asked for the rest of the night was a camera. This was not the end to Hannah and Trinity's fun though. All through the rest of the night they watched as surprised boys walked out of the bathroom, their faces a pale shade of horror.

"Don't they like our masterpiece?" Trinity asked Hannah.

"Well, everyone's a critic these days!"

They met up with the other guys, and then one Hannah's favorite songs, "Tragedy" (all these songs are by "Steps". . .I don't want them to sue me either. . . listen to the words sometime.) Hannah walked over to Trowa and stared. He stared back; then his hand went out with a nod, and they danced. Trinity looked at them confusion, but as Hannah mouthed to her, she understood in a relative way. Hannah mouthed, "I speak mime. All you have to do is stare the right way, and it's just like speaking."

"Oh," Trinity mouthed back. She went a bit cross eyed for a bit, but realized that if she kept trying to figure it all out, it was only going to elude her even more.

"Okay, so what's up with the sword and cheese plates?" Duo's voice asked from behind her.

She turned around to look at Duo in mach confusion, "I thought everyone liked cheese!"

"Well, not in my pants!" Duo yelled back as he smirked slightly.

Then the music came on again, and it was another song by Steps, "Five, Six, Seven, Eight". Trinity looked over at Trowa and Hannah, who were staring at each other again, or 'having a conversation' in their words. She decided that she should probably dance sometime so she grabbed Duo's braid and lead him out onto the dance floor, much to his surprise.

"What the hell!?" Duo screamed at her; he wasn't in the least bit of a dancing mood. Especially with this one as she was a Renada and all.

Trinity grabbed one of his hands. "Oh come on. Or, can't you dance?" She taunted him with her mach sexy smile and spun around on her heels.

It was a challenge. Duo was forced to accept. They ended up dancing the rest of the night, seeing who would drop dead of exhaustion first, him or her. They both ended up flopping at about the same time, much to the surprise of the other and then the food was raided yet again.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, compared to the beginning. Trinity had to go over and pull the still 'talking' Hannah away from Trowa when it was finally time to go. Wufei hadn't been seen by any of them for the whole evening, which Trinity found a little bit weird, but didn't mind in the least, Quatre had to get home before his curfew, and Heero and Relena had left together about and hour ago. So Trowa and Duo decided to be nice and walk the girls to their dorms. Trinity decided that going into Relena's room was not a good idea so she asked Hannah if she could sleep in her room. 

"If you promise to get me caffeine in the morning," Hannah said. She was already dead tired and there was nothing like a dead tired Hannah in the morning, except maybe a ravenous demon straight out of Hell.

"Hey, Trowa's the same way!" Duo told them and received an evil glare from Trowa.

Unlike most good-byes after the 'first date', Hannah and Trowa just stared at each other until they both nodded and Trowa began walking away. Hannah disappeared into the room leaving Trinity and Duo alone.

"Hope you have just a great time getting the cheese out of your pants," Trinity smiled quite stupidly as she opened the door to go inside.

"Wait." Duo demanded as she left to go into the room. She didn't hear though as she was dead tired, and she shut the door quickly, right in his face.

"Night then," Duo grumbled as he sauntered off in the direction of his dorm room, no longer sure just how he felt about the girl he had just met a couple days ago.

***


	6. Reflections

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Six

"Reflections"

By Magic

  


Trinity got inside the room, looked at Hannah, and quickly closed the door behind herself. She glanced over to the blonde who was getting ready to hop into bed. Curiosity over took her normal senses as she inquired of the blonde, "What did you and Trowa talk about?"

"Stuff. "Hannah replied as she flung her kitty PJ top over her head and threw off her shoes. Interrogation was one thing that she wanted to escape so she hopped into the bathroom and locked the door.

"What stuff?" Trinity asked again. Obviously, the brunette didn't actually get that she didn't, or rather wasn't, going to talk about it at the moment.

Hannah flung herself out of the bathroom, fully clothed now in kitty. Pet me kitty. (The fabric.) The bed looked so comfortable after the long night that she leapt onto it without giving Trinity a second look; plus she new if she did, she was going to just get questioned some more. She rolled over in her bed and picked up her chain sock. "I'm tired. Leave me alone."

"You guys just seemed to be able to talk about a lot of stuff tonight, so I was just wondering..." Trinity picked up her blue valux blanket and lay down on the couch, forgetting to put on her pajamas as well. The white plaster ceiling dots peered down at her from the ceiling; after getting annoyed with their stares, she rolled over onto her side and faced Hannah over in the single bed.

"All men are pigs," Hanna mumbled as she rolled over so her back was to Trinity.

"Well, I agree, but that doesn't mean that you.."

"Do you have a death wish!?! I told you, I'm tired!"

"I was just wondering if you found out anything about him," Trinity turned over onto her other side and ended up facing the ugly brown pleather couch. She ran her finger up and down the plastic material as she pondered about the guys. They had just shown up out of nowhere, much like bats out of hell, only without that whole flying side of it. A few minutes later she was staring up at the ceiling when she finally got an answer from Hannah.

"You mean you don't know them?" There was the sound of shifting blankets as Trinity guessed Hannah was sitting up in her water bed.

"No, not really anyway. I just met them a couple days ago," Her voice faded out and became one with the silence of the room.

The blankets on Hannah's bed as if she was pondering whether or not to say something, but that was about the only sound besides the cars out on the street. Lights from around the campus slunk in through the blinds as the two sat there in silence.

Trinity wasn't sure whether or not Hannah was awake when she inquired, "Hannah?"

Grunt.

"Don't you think it's weird that we are such good friends already, yet we don't know a thing about either one of each other?" She felt somehow compelled to tell her about everything, including who she really was. 

"Not at all. What does it matter anyway? Good night..." 

"Yeah, but what about your..." Trinity's sentence was stopped by the simple fact that she had been knocked unconscious by Hannah's infamous change sock.

"Good night, Trinity," Hannah said with a sigh. There would be no more questions from Trinity that night; thank the chain sock. She wrapped herself deeply into her covers and covered her blonde head, wishing her train of thought would stop.

***

Duo and Trowa were the only guys that were left to enter the guys dorms. The room's seemed to already been divided up. Quatre was with Wufei, so Trowa groaned as he and Duo entered the last room. 

"So, do you want to watch some TV?" Duo asked the emotionless boy. Trowa's bangs slowly turned towards Duo and gave him the 'you're crazy' look a la Trowa (AKA, he got the eyebrow).

Trowa shook his head no and walked over to one of the beds; there was no way that he was going to stay up that late. Not like the last time he and Duo had roomed together. The idiot had rented ten different anime videos and just had to watch them all in one night. Trowa had almost gotten the urge to get out his throwing knife collection given to him for his birthday, but luckily for Duo the power had gone out because of a squirrel shorting out the lines.

Trowa's half of the room was sparsely decorated and looked rather nice; the bed was made, his clothes were in his suitcase, and a small picture of Catherine and the whole circus troop sat on his night stand by his brush. Duo's side though, was another story. It looked like someone had tried to kill him and had planted a bomb that only seemed to affect his side; you couldn't see his bed or the floor for that matter, he had flung some of his clothes over his half of the fan, and there seemed to be something that looked like a petrified piece of pizza laying on his chair. There used to be a picture of Hilde sitting on top of his dresser, but as far as Trowa could tell, it had been removed after 'the incident'. If you looked at both of the beds from a distance, or even up close, you could see which side was his, because there was a definite line between the two, not just because it was separated by a line of duct tape (Trowa's idea).

"Don't you want to do anything, Trowa?" Duo asked as he climbed into the pile that best resembled a bed, still wearing his clothing as he was too lazy to try to find his boxers.

"Sleep," Trowa said, emotionlessly as he pulled the covers over his head. Only the outline of bangs stuck up like a mountain from under the covers. Trowa reached for the Silence Glaive that Hannah had lent him, just in case as they had conversed about Duo and his weird sleeping habits. 'This is going to come in handy', Trowa thought. He stuck it under Duo's chin. " I want to sleep," he said.

"Okay... I'll just shut up now," Duo said, frightened. His cobalt eyes grew large as he glanced at the sharp pointy object directly bellow his chin. Trowa with anything when he didn't have his caffeine wasn't a very good thing for the other person in the room. Trowa dropped the glaive onto the floor and again pulled the blanket up over his head.

The banged one slowly drifted off to sleep, until he was roused by the sound of a body flopping all over the floor. He slowly pulled the blanket off his head, only showing his one eye as he glanced over to the other side of the room. Green eyes narrowed as he realized it was nothing but pilot 02 switching what side he was attempting to sleep on every ten seconds; it looked as if he was having some sort of spasm-not that anyone could say differently. "Having problems?" Trowa inquired simply, the blanket still covering his nose and mouth.

Duo's outline stopped moving in the darkness of the room. "Nope, not a problem at all."

"You can't sleep can you?"

The only thing that answered that question was the crickets chirping outside the window.

Trowa sat up and let the blanket fall off his face as he stiffly turned around to face Duo. The bangs under his eyes stretched to his chin and this was the last thing he wanted to deal with at this time of night, but he supposed Duo couldn't really help it.

"This is about Hilde, isn't it? Admit it." Trowa wasn't going to stop being persistent. The air in the room was heavy with tension as the two prepared for a stare down in the complete darkness of the room. It was common knowledge that Trowa was defiantly going to win it, no questions asked, but Duo was in a very stubborn mood. Plus, in the black surrounding the two at the moment, no one could really be called the winner at all.

"I'm not in the mood to talk about this right now, Trowa." The braided one's voice was abnormally serious and stable as his eyes bore into Trowa's green ones (or so he thought-we must remember it's pitch black so for all we know; he could be glaring straight at Trowa's pie throwing trophey). (H:My dear friend is on crack. But don't worry. We have the closet of doom.)

"Would you rather tell Heero or Wufei about all of this?" Trowa inquired. "Because, if you wish it, I can go get them."

Dark blue eyes closed as he sighed. His shoulders shook slightly as he did so, and when he opened them his eyes were slightly clouded. The once clown was slightly taken back by Duo's rare emotion he was sharing, but he didn't let it show at all as he dived back into his covers. 

"Yes. It's about her." His black outline moved as he glided out of the pile of clothes he used for a bed. "I'm going to go out for a walk." A slit of light cut through the room as he slipped out of the door and into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind him, his braid nearly getting caught as he did so.

***

Trinity shot straight up and flung her blue blanket off herself. Not having balanced it right as she had been in such a panic, she ended up flying off the couch and onto the shag carpeted floor below. Mumbling incoherent curses as she unraveled herself from the blanket and got into a standing position, she attempted to erase the nightmare from her head. 

Her hand gingerly moved over to the bump on her head to where the chain sock had connected just a few seconds ago; a smile enveloped her face as she thought about Hannah's way of making her shut up. Slowly, she moved over towards the mirror in the bathroom and took a long look at her shoulder. It was getting better; the bruise didn't cover all of it anymore and it wasn't that nasty black color it had been for awhile. Her brown head hung over the sink as she thought about everything that had happened recently.

It wasn't something she wanted to think about she realized as she started to feel sick. Pushing it into the back recesses of her mind, she exited from the bathroom and decided to get dressed and go for a walk. She quickly realized that she was already fully clothed, and so she skipped the first part and quietly as possible, snuck out the door and into the hallway.

Buzzzzzz. 

The annoying flourescent lights that lined the hallway seemed to yell at her as her bare feet padded lightly on the green and pink floral carpet. As she reached the end of the hall, she wondered where exactly she was going and decided that it was better not to know at the moment. She hadn't been around the whole school yet and now seemed as good as any time to get out and see everything, as well as clear her mind. 

After exiting through the automatic doors of the girl's dormitory, Trinity found herself standing outside in the humid night time air of the colony. "What the hell am I doing out here?" She grumbled to herself as she debated whether or not to return to the air condition goodness that was the dorm hallway. Again, she decided that she should just keep walking where ever she ended up. Smooth stones paved her way around towards the garden where she hoped she could finally find a little bit of peace.

A little ways up she found a small creek that ran along the interior of the gardens, more for decoration that anything else she mused. Following it along it's course, she ended up facing a long, looking pound that stretched out through the middle of the school yard. Lily pads and white floors littered the surface that shivered ever so slightly whenever a fish came up to say hello. 

She kneeled on the concrete that surrounded the pool and slowly leaned over the side of the pound. Her frowning reflection glared back at her as the street lights glittered around it. Her throat started to tighten as she pushed whatever emotion her mind was thinking of throwing at her back.

Water splashed up on her face as something flew into the pond right next to her, shattering her reflection in the pond and almost startling her into falling in herself. About to scream at who ever had done that, she whirled around to spot someone standing at the top of the balcony that overhang the pound a bit to her left and behind her. Her hand moved up to wipe off her face, but she kept her eyes on the figure leaning down on the concrete railing, gazing off over to who knows where, randomly chucking rocks into the pond.

  
  


She realized that he hadn't tried to hit her, and he probably didn't have any knowledge that she was standing right below him. Her brunette head moved to get a better view of him; his clothing seemed a bit rumpled, like he had been sleeping in them. His usually perfect braid was coming out of its tie and some random pieces where falling out of it all over the place. Not only that, but his expression wasn't the light, giddy one she had seen him have ever since she had meet him.

"Man, he looks like shit," Trinity mused quietly under her breath as she kept watching him.

Suddenly he roughly pushed himself away from the balcony's edge as if he got extremely angry at something. After a second more of looking over it's edge, he rammed his hands in his pockets and ambled off until she couldn't see him anymore.

Her brown eyes turned from the balcony baring a deep look of confusion; even though she had met him, it didn't seem like this was the way he usually was. She sat down on her behind and pulled her knees close to her as she wrapped her arms around them. Chin resting on her knees, she sat there and just starred out across the pond and into the city lights of colony L10.

"What the hell am I doing here?"

She would receive no answer but that of the sprinkler system engaging and soaking her from head to toe. 

***

The rest of the night went fast without much more of a bother. Then at the breakfast table, both Duo and Trinity didn't look all that great. Both of them hung their heads over their trays as if they were going to fall asleep in the mushy substance at any given time. It was even worse than when the two were in algebra class.

"Does anyone have an aspirin?" Trinity and Duo asked at the same time. Trinity was busy making a tower out of the dark red mush on her plate, while Duo was attempting to figure out how exactly he could get his fork unstuck from the guck on his plate.

"You didn't wake me up with caffeine, so I'm not giving you any aspirin," Hannah growled at the two. She still hadn't had time to take her shower or anything like that as she slept in after getting to bed late.

Trowa held out two, but only for Trinity, which she took. He really didn't want Duo to get over that head ache. Teaches him a lesson for talking to me when I'm trying to sleep, Trowa mused happily to himself. Then Quatre held out some for the both of them,"Here you go my friends." Duo took them, along with Trinity as they each attempted to get the most out of their blonde haired friend's hand.

"So, what happened to you?" Trinity asked Duo. He didn't seem to meet her gaze right on, but his eyes showed no sign of anger about last night or anything.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Hannah."

"Makes sense.What with?"

" I got the change sock to the temple," Trinity grumbled, rubbing a large bump on the side of her head. She really didn't even remember what had gone on just before that, or even how she had gotten home. Realizing that she had a history test that day, she prayed that she could even remember what chapter they had started.

"Yeah so what? You've got to admit that I have pretty good aim when I'm tired!" Hannah noted in response to Trinity's wining. "Don't tick me off when I'm tired." She seemed as if she suddenly remembered something. "Can I have my Silence Glaive back?" Hannah asked the silent Trowa.

"Here," he said as he handed her the glaive, much to the surprise of all of the others in the room.

"Hey! Aurora carries her sword around in her backpack!" Hannah yelled way too loud in her attempt at defense for her weapon of choice.

"WHAT?!?" Was the response Trinity got from the whole table except for Trowa, who just raised an eyebrow. They didn't think that she would actually carry the thing around with her at all times, though it could be some sort of odd obsessive, compulsive behavior that none knew about. Or maybe she was just anal. Trinity did have some quirks to her that the others hadn't quite come to understand yet. The breakfast went quite uneventful until Heero decided to make a statement. 

"Did you know they found out who killed Mr. and Mrs. Renada?"

Hannah commented said she hadn't as she continued eating her breakfast. The other pilots on the other hand, all stopped eating and just gazed at Heero, who didn't seem to notice, or at least pretended he didn't. They were all asking themselves the same thing: why the hell is he bringing up this now?

His Persian blue eyes glanced around the table and landed on Trinity for a second before he crossed his arms and looked to the ceiling. "Well, it was an inside job. Obviously, Nadir had or has, they don't know if she succeeded in committing suicide, but he had a sister and they say that she was the one that killed her mother and step-father."

Trinity spit out her food onto Duo's plate. "Who said that?" She managed to squeak out. Duo just looked down at his plate and frowned deeply; even though he couldn't get his fork unstuck from the food, he had planned on doing something like licking it up off his plate. He looked over across at Trinity who seemed to be having trouble keeping her emotions in check.

"Nadir himself. It was in the paper this morning," Heero said, unemotionally. He went back to his cereal. 

Trowa again raised his eyebrow at Trinity as she went from red, to green, to white in point two seconds flat. The others were also staring at her now, including Hannah. Relena shot Heero a glare across the table as Trinity looked as if she was about to pass out.

Relena decided to talk about something that didn't 'disturb' Trinity so much. "So, Hannah and Aurora, I heard that you guys want to help us fight?"

"Death?!" asked Hannah.

"Oh God, Hannah," Trinity said.

"Just don't wake me up early in the morning or you might become the enemy."

"She's right. . . don't. The headmaster and I would know," Trinity mumbled as she put her head in her arms.

"Oh, many other people know! Why do you think I don't share a dorm with anyone?" Hannah said as the famous anime sweat drops appeared on the back of everyone's heads.

She sighed long and hard as the conversation continued. Just don't think about it, Trin...It doesn't matter what he says about you anymore because you're no longer Trinity, you're Aurora now, Trinity assured herself. And...you're also talking to yourself...

***

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. The Gathering

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One! But also, I want to give thanks to whoever wrote a story called I've Never because that's what gave us the idea for this chapter. Also, thanks to the author that wrote Duo's First Kiss. That also influenced the chapter a lot. We would give out your names, but we can't find them! Forgive us! People, if you haven't read the stories I just mentioned....they're a must! Thanks again!

  


Chapter Seven

"The Gathering"

By Magic and The Little Fairy From Nam

  
"She seems really down lately don't you think?" Hannah commented quietly to Trowa who was standing next to her, holding her blonde head in her hands as she peered across the room at Trinity, who was busy doing her homework. The shorter girl sat on her water bed and gazed over towards her friend with a worried expression on her face. Four of the five guys sat around her at the table as they played cards to pass the time in between their classes. They only had one more left until school was over for the weekend. She randomly placed down her hand and collected the chips from the middle of the circular, plastic red table.

Trowa glanced up from his hand, then placed it down on the table as he folded. Quatre did the same as he looked across the table to Hannah. "What exactly do you mean by down?"

The blonde girl shrugged and looked away from her friend who had declined the offer to play with them. "Ever since the day when everyone found out that Nadir Renada's sister had killed her parents. I'm just wondering if maybe she knew her or something." She tossed a couple chips into the middle randomly; she didn't exactly know for sure what she was doing really, but she seemed to be winning, much to the guys' dismay, as she had the most little round things over on her side.

All of the guys at the table turned over to Heero and glared, besides Wufei and Duo. Wufei, who was leaning against the wall, just smirked slightly and crossed his arms. This was getting quite amusing for him; not only that, but it was great fun to watch all of his fellow pilots being beaten by a woman playing cards that didn't even have a clue as to what she was truly doing.

"We could do something to cheer her up," Quatre offered.

Everyone glanced at each other as if each was wondering the same question: what could they do? Then Relena, in a stroke of genius, poked her head from over on the other side of the couch where she was sitting and smiled at all of them. 

"If you all agree, we could hold a party tonight. I don't have any meetings that I have to go to today so if..."

Hannah had already agreed to it even before anyone else said a thing. "Hey, Trinity!" She bellowed across the room. 

The brunette's head shot up from out of her history book and gazed at the others in confusion. "What?" They were all staring at her as if she was suddenly mutating into something disgusting, like a giant economics text book.

"You're coming to the party right? Good. I thought so."

  
  


***

The girls said that their dorms were too full to have a party, and since the guys' dorms are almost next to empty, they decided to have it over there. They were going to have it at Wufei's and Quatre's, but Heero pointed out that if they even touched something of Wufei's, he would demand that justice be served to the perpetrator of his stuff. So, after the warnings from Trowa which went unheaded, they decided to have it at Duo's and his dorm.

The girls went to their dorm rooms to make themselves 'pretty' after their class was finished up. Hannah didn't see how this was possible because of the fact that this just doesn't happen for her in her opinion, and Trinity didn't really even want to try; boring girls stuff. Relena on the other hand was a different story. 

"I didn't know people could get that much make-up on their face at one time!" Trinity whispered to Hannah. 

"WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Hannah said in amazement as she gazed at Relena who had spent almost a full six hours in front of the mirror.

The blonde just made some off comment about why pacifists have to look great at all times which was went unheard by the two of the girls who continued to stare in awe.

"Would you like to try that on me?! I like clowns... I mean...ummmm...pascifists.." Hannah asked, now afraid of what Relena was going to do to her. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to see the Princess all angry and huffy at her. She did, generally , have just about the whole world at her command. Then something struck her as weird, but she didn't get time to voice it as Trinity commented on her remark.

"You asked for it," Trinity said to her now freaking out friend as Relena approached her with eye liner.

"NOOOO!!!"

"Oh come here you big baby!" Relena taunted the poor girl. 

Hannah ran into the bathroom and locked the door. It seemed Trinity had another unknown talent that they didn't know about; she could pick locks! After Relena was done with her make-up, she picked the lock and pulled out her kicking and screaming friend.

"DON'T WORRY! SHE'S DONE WITH THE MAKE UP!!!" Trinity screamed over her friends voice, which was hard considering Hannah could get up there with a high C and had great projection.

"Are you sure?" Hannah asked cowering into the corner.

"Yes! Now we have to go to the guys' place," Trinity said, grabbing her friends hand and literally throwing her out the door. They ran crazily to the guys' place, Hannah grumbling all the way, and knocked on the door.

"It's open!" Duo screamed, and the girls walked into the half-clean, half-Duo room.

"This is YOUR side, isn't it Duo?" Trinity said, pointing to the jungle like side of the duct tape.

"Yep. How could you tell?" Duo remarked sarcastically. He was giving Trinity the eye behind her back before Trowa slapped him across the back of his head.

Trowa leaned close to Duo's ear and whispered, "Play nice."

"A little rabbit told me,"Trinity said sarcastically, unaware of the exchange between the two. She picked up a sock and removed it from the spot as she attempted to find somewhere to sit down; generally at the moment she was going for just about anywhere.

"Su... what are we going to do?" Hannah asked, as they all stood around for about ten minutes. "I brought my Silence Glaive just in case."

"PLAY A GAME!" Trinity shouted so loud they all flinched.

"No, we have to wait for Dorothy to show up," Relena said. This comment had several effects on the crowd. Flinches, moans, running for the bathroom, and manic laughter, shared by Trinity, Hannah, and Quatre.

"I don't think she'll be coming anytime soon," said Hannah between laughs. After the bathroom escapade, she wasn't even sure that Dorothy would come within five feet of them all. She had set up her radius, and it wasn't going to be broken for just a gathering with friends. Hannah felt like she held some sort of power; it was nice. So they decided to start anyway.

"What should we play then?" Quatre asked, as he sat down on one of the few chairs the room had in it.

"I'VE NEVER!!" Duo screamed, louder than Trinity, but not louder than Hannah had gotten a couple minutes before. He took pleasure as he watched Trinity flinch just like he had earlier.

Trinity and Hannah gave everyone in the room blank stares at the name. Trowa flinched at the name, remembering what happened the last time they played that game. The two girls glanced at each other and decided that whatever "I've Never" was that it couldn't be all that great considering Trowa looked about ready to go hide in the corner with a stuffed animal.

"Okay, must I explain. It's the game where one person says something that they have never done and everyone that HAS done the thing has to take a drink. Not the whole glass unless you want to, just more than a sip. The drinks will be provided by me," Duo explained to the crowd.

"But Duo, we're under age, "Quatre complained

"I KNOW THAT!" Duo exclaimed. It was enough to of had to celebrate after the war with non-alcoholic beverages that time, but Quatre wasn't going to spoil their fun this time. "Come on, Quatre. Be a man. You can take it." 

As this was all going on, Trowa thought, Where is he keeping all of this stuff? I don't wanna know. It's probably somewhere between the petrified pizza and the six pairs of boxers he has lying around, and if that's where it is, I'm not even going to be touching the stuff. With my luck, it's at the bottom of the pile and he will get lost in there. Curls of a smile wrinkled Trowa's face for just a second.

Duo dove into a large pile of something that looked like it could have been clothes. He surfaced with twenty-four bottles of wine. It was a miracle that he could even carry them all, considering that he only had two hands and one mouth. Later, it was theorized that he had somehow carried them in his large, puffy pants, but if that was the case, no one wanted him to admit to it.

"Duo...isn't that a little much?" Relena asked, starting to get worried.

"No. There's just three for each of us."

"Oh." Relena was slightly worried about her reputation. Pacifists must look good at all times, and you can't look good if you're completely smashed. "So who should start?"

"Mission accepted," Heero declared with an evil grin on his face. "I've never blown up the chemistry lab."

Duo and Wufei had to take a swig of the wine.

"I never want to be lab partners with Duo again!" Wufei screamed. "This is injustice!" He said even before he took a swig.

Next it was Hannah. "Hummmmm...I've never seen a mobile suit."

This caused everyone but herself to take a swig of the wine. People were thinking how did she know that while Hannah gave Trinity a quizzing look; Trinity just shrugged lightly and went back to poking her wine bottle as if she expected it to leap up at her and attack her like algebra homework.

Trowa thought for a while before he said," I've never been kissed." 

"REALLY?" asked Trinity.

This caused Heero, Relena, Wufei, Duo, and Quatre to take a very long gulp out of their bottles. Trinity glanced oddly out of the side at her eye at Duo as he took his; suddenly around everyone she felt really innocent. At least Hannah wasn't taking a drink or anything.

"I've never been beaten by a women," Wufei said in a long drawl. His eyes narrowed as he gazed evilly at the three women in the room.

"OH REALLY?!" Hannah challenged as she stood up. "I can change that!"It took a couple minutes for everyone to get her back to sitting down and calm again. Heero, Duo, Quatre, and Trinity had to take a sip.

"Hey!" Trinity said after she got strange looks," I was the one that got hit by the change sock!" Everyone (with the exception of Trowa and Wufei) burst out laughing.

"I've never.. hummmmm..." Trinity looked over at Wufei evilly," had my hair in such a tight ponytail that I lost circulation in my head." This was Wufei's turn to drink a long sip, along with Duo, and also Hannah had to take her first sip.

Duo was staring to get rather flushed as he said, "I've never cut my hair."

This caused everyone to take a sip. Everyone pretty much agreed that this was a low blow considering that everyone good and normal would cut their hair. Then again, of course Duo wouldn't have cut his hair.

"I've never been drunk," Quatre slurred out. The room was starting to spin on him.

"You are now," Heero pointed out as a matter of fact.

"Doesn't count."

Heero, Duo and Relena took a sip.

"Relena?" asked Hannah.

"What?!" Asked the already tipsy girl. "Oh...okay." She looked around the room and spotted the still untipsy Trowa. "I've never used more than half a can of hair spray on my hair."

Heero, Duo, and Wufei took a sip, and the whole room turned to looked at Trowa.

"What?" he asked in his usual voice. "It's natural." He crossed his arms across his chest as he dared anyone to say otherwise.

"REALLY?! You mean it naturally defies gravity?" The drunken Duo screamed. Normally, Trowa's hair was absolutely one of the most amazing things he had ever seen, and now that he realized it was natural, it was likened to things like new socks and anime at four in the morning.

Hannah walked up to Trowa and felt his hair. "Yep! We have a winner! It's not crispy!!!!"

The whole room went into shock as Heero said his next I've never. "I've never...crashed someone's computer."

This caused Duo to take his eighth sip, Quatre and Relena to take their fifth.

Hannah thought for a second and said," I've never inhaled the ink jet fumes on my printer... I saw you Heero!"

Heero gave her the death glare TM as he sipped his wine along with Duo.

***

After the game was finished, scores reading Heero (7), Hannah (2), Trowa (2), Wufei (6), Trinity (3), a whopping (9) for Duo, (5) for Quatre and Relena.

Trinity and Hannah looked over at Duo as he opened his second bottle, or at least TRIED. It was absolutely the funniest thing that either of them had ever seen in their lives. It could be likened to a little kid without hands or brain cells attempting to get into a cookie jar with a lock and key on it as well as gundamium siding. Only this kid was drunk, had a 3 meter long braid, and seemed to be apt to using his teeth on the siding more than trying to open it with his hands.

"What should we play now?" the still sober Hannah asked. She was having way too much fun watching everyone do as they were doing. It was almost like being at the zoo, only without the animal noises. For the most part.

"Truth or dare," hiccupped Relena.

"OKAY!!!" yelled Trinity as she bounced up and down. It didn't take much to get her drunk.

"Okay, any consequences?" Hannah asked.

"Just one," slurred Duo," If ya dun wanna do it, ya gotta take a slip." 

"Alrighty, Heero you start," Relena ordered. 

"Hannah, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Did you really knock Aurora unconscious with your change sock?" Heero asked in his usual voice.

"Yep. Let that be a lesson to you all!" She surveyed the room. "Nobody wakes be up without caffeine or money--loose change!"

"Or Trowa," Duo said.

Hannah looked at the drunken pilot. Wouldn't it be funny if I made him take another sip? "Duo. . . . truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to go under your bed."

Trowa looked rather scared as Duo considered it ( do you blame him?).

"I'll take a sip," the Brady-boy said before he chugged half the bottle. Trinity grabbed it away from him.

"That's more than a sip, Duo. Duo?!"

"Wah?"

"Your turn."

"Oh. . . . . Aurora. . . .truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to finish the rest of this bottle. . . or take a sip."

"That's stupid Du. . . . " Wufei didn't get to finish because he just had to watch as Trinity downed the rest of the bottle and went back for more of her own, only to be stopped by Hannah.

"You could've taken a sip, Aurora," said Hannah as she held up her drooping friend.

"Oh, oops. Never thought of that."

"Well, it's your turn anyway."

"Okay. . . . . Relena. . . truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to. . . . . . wash all of that make-up of your face."

"I don't think so," Relena said before she took a sip. "Trowa. . . truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Okay, do you like like Hannah?"

Trowa slowly toke a sip as he turned a bright shade of tomato, causing everyone but him and Hannah to burst out laughing.

"Quatre, truth or dare?" asked the still sober Trowa.

"Dare!"

"I dare you to. . . . walk out to Dorothy's dorm, knock on the door, and give her a big fat kiss when she answers," Trowa said with a straight face as he placed the curse on poor Quatre.

"I think I'll. . . . . " Quatre looked between the door and his wine bottle in front of him and since he was quite drunk he said," kiss Dorothy."

The whole room went into shocked silence, and soon everyone was walking quietly (as quietly as a bunch of slightly to really drunk people can walk) behind Quatre towards Dorothy's room.

"OH DOROTHY!!!" Quatre yelled as he knocked on the door.

"GO AWAY!" was the response he got for the Ex-Double Brow.

"I want to kiss you!" Quatre screamed.

There was a long silence before Dorothy came to the door and opened it. "Really?"

Her answer was a big fat kiss from Quatre that lasted at least a minute, as Duo and Trinity fell over onto the ground, laughing. When it was done, everyone was either on the ground laughing, or just plain shocked to see their friend kiss the ExDouble-Brow.

"Well that was. . . .different," Heero said, shaken.

Quatre ran away from Dorothy, towards the water fountain screaming," SHE'S GOT NACHO BREATH!!!"

After calming down the ranting Quatre they went back to the room and back to the game. 

"It's most definitely Quatre's turn," Wufei said.

"Wufei. . . . Truth or dare?"

"Dare, I'm not weak."

"Oh really?" Hannah asked. "Quatre! Tell Wufei to dress up like a girl!"

"Okay, Wufei. Dress up like a girl."

Wufei went ridged. "This is . . . . "

"INJUSTICE!!!" The drunken Trinity yelled along with Duo.

"You're weak, aren't you?"" Trinity said with evil laugh.

"But you're not weak. . . . right Wufei?" Heero asked, an evil grin creeping onto his face.

"I'll do it you weaklings!"

"Relena, if you would do the honors. . . " Quatre said as he pulled Wufei over to Relena. (Did I mention that Relena has had six drinks?)

She soon had Wufei's face covered in blue eye shadow, black eye liner and "Love's Passion" colored lipstick. Oh, the fun didn't stop there! Hannah helped Relena shove Wufei into one of her dresses, full with a bra and water balloons.

"Wufei! You make one sexy woman!" The tipsy Duo said sarcastically.

"This is just. . . unjust!!!!" Wufei yelled as the others burst into fits of laughter.

When the laughing stopped, Trowa asked the still laughing (ok so it didn't stop) Duo," So Duo. . . . who do you like?"

"Yeah, Duo," Trinity asked getting is his face.

"Hey! This isn't a truth so I don't have to say!"

"Okay, okay.. Wufei, Heero's the last person."

"Heero. . . .truth or dare?" Wufei asked, still mad at everyone. Possibly life in general as well; he wasn't quite sure at the moment.

"Dare," Heero said, challenging Wufei.

"I dare you to. . . tell the two girls about your spandex."

"Fine. I wear spandex when I fight in the suits. When I lose, they get tighter."

"Have you ever self destructed because of that?" Hannah asked the blushing Heero.

"Yeah," Heero said, shortly. "But Trowa had to save me."

"Well, that's the end of that game," Trowa said.

"Oh. . . . hardly anyone drank!" Duo complained. "Time for spin the bottle."

"What?!" Was everyone's response. Two games was enough, but three games was going to hit them all hard. Luckily, they didn't have class the next day, but still. No one wanted a drunken band of weirdos around, and a drunken band of weirdos was out of the question. Though, it was probably too late to do anything about that.

"Well, hardly anyone drank, and I need to get rid of this stuff!" 

"Okay, okay," Trinity said,"what kind of spin the bottle?"

"The kind were if it lands on the person, you either have to kiss them on the lips. . . . or on the cheek or take a big drink. . . . . *laughs* this could be evil *hiccups*," Duo slurred out.

He ran over to the kitchen and grabbed an old Coke bottle and gave it to Heero. "And as usual, Heero you start."

Heero looked at the bottle as if it was going to bite him for a while, until he finally put it into the center of the circle and spun it. With all of his luck (we're feeling nice right now) it landed on Relena. He then, of course kissed her on the lips. It was a long kiss, which then resulted in them going into the other room.

"Well. . . . there's some happy customers," Duo said, "who wants to spin next. How 'bout you , Wu-Chan?"

"What did you call me?" Wufei asked, outraged.

"Nothing. . . . just spin the bottle."

Unfortunately for Wu-chan, it landed on Hannah, who gave him a death glare. "I'll take the drink." He wanted to keep his life after all.

It was then Hannah's turn to spin the bottle. It landed on Quatre, who she kissed on the cheek. Then it was Quatre's turn. He spun it, and it landed on Trowa. (Now, we don't get into that kind of stuff okay!?) He quickly grabbed the wine bottle and almost downed the whole thing at once. At this point, a very pleased looking Heero and Relena emerged from the next room.

"Now, Relena. That's the type of thing that gets politicians in trouble," Hannah said, laughing.

"You wouldn't care if you were kissing Heero!" Relena said as everyone tried really, really hard not to think about this.

After a few more spins with guys landing on guys (this translates roughly into lots of drinks for the guys) it finally got to Duo spinning the bottle. It landed on Trinity who was jumping up and down on Trowa's bed, just because she couldn't really even find Duo's and she wasn't really sure that if she could that she would even want to go over there to that side. Trowa wasn't quite as happy as Trinity was, and was plotting how to get back at this drunken child when he noticed that Duo had gone white.

"What? Don't you want to kiss her, Duo?" Trowa asked, trying not to smile. This was going to prove to be entertaining.

"Wah?!" Trinity asked as she plopped down on the floor next to Duo. "Duncha wanna kiss me, Duo?" She inquired; she was, obviously to them all, very, very drunk.

"Dear. You're drunk. You'd regret it later." Duo twirled his bottle of wine around in his fingers like a batan as he looked her squarely in the eyes (as squarely as a drunken Duo can).

"You really are drunk aren't you, Aurora?" Hannah asked, looking worriedly at her friend.

"Yeppers peppers eppers!!!!"

Trowa raised an eyebrow, as did Hannah. Trinity looked at them and tried to do it herself, but it still wasn't happening.

"I wouldn't take another drink if I were you, Duo," Heero warned the drunken boy.

"So you're just going to have to kiss her," said Trowa.

Duo looked cross-eyed at the two and then glared around the room. It was becoming a frickin' conspiracy, it was a cold, cruel world after all, and everybody was against him, even the security feret which resided under his bed, or what was left of it. After a bit Wufei screamed, "Oh just kiss her you weakling!"

Duo leaned in and kissed Trinity, on the lips just to prove to Wufei he wasn't a 'weakling' or anything, quickly before he backed away. 

"Hey! I've been kissed!!!" Trinity slurred out as Duo blanched. It as then her turn and her bottle landed on Hannah. "Give me that wine bottle," She ordered to Duo and she took a chug.

"Oh goody. My turn." Hannah mumbled. If this hits Wufei, than I'm just going to have to kill Aurora. She put the bottle down and gave it a turn. 

No, it didn't land on Wufei, but on the magic haired Trowa. She let out a squeak as there was hooting and hollering in the background. "You stole my wine bottle didn't you Aurora?" She said as she glared at the laughing girl.

"NOW YOU GOTTA KISS 'IM, HANNANNAH!" Trinity said between laughs.

"Maybe I'll just take Duo's. . . . oh wait, it's empty. Well. . . FINE THEN!" She leaned over and kissed Trowa on the cheek.

"You wimp," Trinity said.

"You drunk."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!" 

"Then try to walk a strait line without falling over."

"I'd like to see her stand up without falling over," Trowa commented with smirk.

Trinity gave them both the death glare, and Heero because she could swear that there was two Hannah's, as she started to stand up. It really didn't work though because the room started to tilt up and down as she got higher. She finally gave up and started to sit down, which didn't work that much either, because she landed like a sack of potatoes on Duo.

"Oops... " Trinity said as she looked up into his face. He ruffly shoved her off as he slunk, swaying slightly as if there was a strong breeze, over to his bed where he decided he would sit and sulk for a bit.

"This is getting quite sad," Relena said as she looked at the drunken Trinity and then at Duo.

"We should play 'make someone's nose bleed'," Heero looked around trying to find someone that wasn't drunk.

"NOT MINE!" Wufei screamed.

"What would be the prize?" Quatre asked.

"You get to do whatever you want, to or with who ever you want for fifteen minutes," Heero responded, "now to find the victim."

He looked over the crowed of drunk (or not) people until his eyes landed on Hannah, who looked overly sober.

"Hannah. . . . . . "

"NO, NO ,NO, NO, NO! Pain!!!!" I have a very low tolerance for pain," she looked around at the crowd. Most of them were drunk. "Oh okay, but you can't touch me. And just in case. . . . I've got my silence glaive."

"But then how. . . . " Duo began to ask as he glanced up intereged.

"Fine," Heero said in his end of discussion voice. "Mission Accepted."

It was like playing a game of pin the tail on the donkey with the blindfold, no one could hit Hannah, not even the 'Perfect Soldier'-- that was good, and yet scary at the same time.

Hannah soon got tired of this game and left to get something. She came back, not missed by the others who were still trying to make her nose bleed, with her change sock. She whacked herself in the face after muttering, "Oh this is going to hurt." Soon a small stream of blood was running down her face. "All right! Go me!"

"Who won?" asked a falling over Quatre.

"I did," said Hannah. "I made my nose bleed."

"That's not far! You didn't fallow rules!" Trinity yelled, slightly shocked at her friend.

"There were no rules," Hannah said with a smirk, "Just to make my nose. Now I get to do whatever I want with myself for fifteen minutes. Bye!" Hannah left the room and turned back in the door way to say, "This party just got weird, so I'm gonna go and leave you drunken fools to yourselves. 

Trowa asked, "you're not going to leave me with them are you?" The odd haired pilot walked towards the door and left with Hannah.

"OooOOOOOOooOOOOooOOO," Relena and Heero yelled as they left the door.

Outside the door, Hannah said,"We should stay at the party and watch them get even drunker. Did I bring my Silence Glaive? I'm afraid of leaving them with sharp pointy objects."

"I have it," Trowa said, "and no I don't wanna stay. Duo gets scary."

"You speak from experience?"

*Groans*

"Tomorrow we get to learn how to pilot mobile suits," Hannah said, frightened.

"This could get bad," Trowa said smirking," just think. . . . .major hangovers and trying to pilot mobile suits."

"Oh no. . . . not Duo. . . . "

"It can't get any worse than how he pilots already. I don't let him drive. . . . EVER," Trowa said, grimacing as he remembered the last time Duo tried to drive, they ended up in the living room of a very nice old lady.

The voices of the more than slightly drunk followed them through the halls.

***

  
  
  
  



	8. The Hangovers

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  
Chapter Eight  
"The Hangovers"  
By Pinky Waffletush(Magic) and Snotty Hampsterchuncks(The Little Fairy From Nam)

The flight back to the colony wasn't all that long, but it felt as if his life was passing him by that very moment. The stars seemed to scold him from the depths of space as his deep blue eyes gazed through the window adjacent to his seat. His face a perfect mask of expressionlessness, glazed over eyes slowly moved around the private jet he was on. His hand moved up to hold his face, causing the yellow shoulder tassels on his uniform to shake. Blood rushed through the veins in his head as he attempted to disregard the worst headache he'd had in months, though now they had become very frequent.   
What in the world was wrong with him?  
Nadir Renada held his hands in both of his hands, cradling his yellow blonde head there as the pain increased. Upon shutting his blue eyes, the visions came yet again. Strikingly clearer than they had been before now, they ran through his mind. Sweat began dripping down his back as pictures of his childhood flashed through his mind. Trinity. His father. Step-mother. His life seemed to be skipping before his eyes as he grew up through sparks of moments that came as clear as if he was relieving them once again. They continued until they hit one year ago, when he had joined the war. He had gone to meet the leader of the war when...  
The visions ended as swiftly as they had come. His dark blue uniform was now soaked in sweat as he lay his head on the back of the jet's cushioned seat. Hair falling messily around his eyes, he wiped the moisture from his forehead and attempted to relax; the headache had left him. Swallowing slowly, he reached for his bag as he heard the jet readying to land, but before he stood up he glanced out the window.   
Have I really done what I was ordered? Is this what I wanted? Trinity,.... "Argh!!" He screamed as the headache hit him again. Eyes slammed shut only to be opened seconds later as empty as they had been a few days ago when he had shot his father in cold blood; the headache had once again receded.   
"Damn headaches. I'm going to have to find something stronger than aspirin," Nadir mumbled to himself as he slung his bag over her shoulder and exited the aircraft.

***  
The sun, cruelly forgetting what had happened the night before, slunk in through the blinds of the dorm room. It evilly glittered across the faces of the pilots, pacifist, and random brunette that slept in the room; no movement ensued at all. It then gave up on the people in the room and went along it's way to find bigger fish to fry as it hid behind a cloud. Someone in the room snorted, then rolled over and tried to get into a more comfortable position.  
Another source of light flooded into the darker room; the door to the hallway of the boy's dorms slowly opened as two figures came into the room to survey the damage. One of them burst out into a fit of laughter, while the other one just shook his head at how long it was going to take him to put everything back into order. People just didn't understand the precise science that came into organizing and categorizing ones socks.  
Pilot 03 stretched his neck for a bit as he carefully rubbed his left shoulder; sleeping on Hannah's couch where Trinity usually slept hadn't been the most comfortable thing he had ever done, but it also hadn't been the worst either. Beats sleeping on the hard, cold ground, Trowa mused as he tried to figure out exactly he was going to even start with everything.  
Hannah kicked some random piece of clothing that was probably Duo's just for the fact that it was black and also on his side of the duct tape, and she carefully entered the war zone. She wasn't quite sure where to start because it looked like her old English class had let loose on the room after being assigned a ten page paper. Disgruntled students could do wonders when given the right resources. Last night, she had to admit, was quite entertaining, but that could've been for the fact that watching her drunken friends attempt to make her nose bleed as they flopped around like beached whales in the room was even better than tap dancing chickens. (H:Evil poultry..)  
The blue eyes began to survey the room for possible survivors. Relena seemed to be curled up on the sofa in the corner closest to the window where Heero slept in an upright position that made him look like he was just sitting rather than sleeping. He had a very disgruntled expression on his face and his arms remained crossed even during his slumber. Wufei somehow had ended up on the kitchen counter, his head in the sink, and was currently muttering things about justice and turkeys.  
Suddenly Hannah went flying as she tripped over something slightly on the hard side. After picking herself up from the ground and standing back on her own two feet, she realized that it hadn't been Satan sleeping on the ground after all, but rather her and Trowa's blonde friend Quatre, who had fallen asleep in the middle of the floor.  
Some explicit comments were mumbled from behind her; Hannah turned around to glance at Trowa who was holding his head with one of his hands as if he had recently smacked it into something. Then, mid-reaching down to pick up Quatre, she figured out what that very thing had been. The pupils on her eyes spun round and round watching the figure on his path around the ceiling fan. It was, in fact, Duo tied to the ceiling fan and somehow managing to keep slumbering as he slowly and peacefully swung around the room in a never ending circle.  
"What the hell...?" Hannah wasn't even quite sure what to make of all this. Something snorted; it was so obviously a Trinity snort that Hannah didn't even have to turn around to figure out that her brunette partner in crime was sleeping in some odd position behind her. She wasn't going to see what Trinity had ended up like that morning and decided that she was just going to pick up Quatre and take care of one of them at a time.  
The banged one turned to face the blonde slowly as it seemed his head was getting better. "We should just put them back into their rooms and start to," he ducked as to not get hit by Duo's spinning body, "clean up this disaster."  
"Oh, but that's no fun...can't we just let them wake up like this and have a little fun watching their horrified expressions?" Hannah asked innocently as she flung Quatre's limp body over her back (she'd had three mocha chinos that morning to wear off the slight headache she had from the couple of sips she took the night before: AKA it was time for rambo-Hannah).  
Trowa ducked again to miss the swinging Duo a second time as he walked over towards Hannah. "You don't think they'll have enough to be horrified with when they wake up?" If Hannah hadn't been blocked by Quatre's sleeping body as Trowa hefted him off her shoulder and onto his, she would've sworn that the expressionless one had smirked slightly to himself. "You can go wake up Wufei as I put Quatre back into his room across the hall."  
"Roger that." She swiftly saluted the brown haired pilot and turned towards her prey which was currently twitching and mumbling things from over where he slept on the kitchen counter. Hannah was certain that she could have thought of many more creative things to do to Wufei that morning, but she had already decided that she was going to go for the most obvious one that she could think of. Quietly, as to not wake "Sleeping Beauty", she meandered over to the Chinese pilot. Her mouth curved as she smiled evilly when turned the water on as cold as it could go and watched in amusement as the Wufei sprung off of the counter, bashing his head on a couple open cupboards and ended up crashing to the plastic tiled surface of the kitchen floor along with several sets of tupper wear.  
"Wake up sleepy head!!!" Hannah screamed in his ear as she knelt next to the still very groggy and confused black-haired one.  
"Evil woman!" He attempted to take a swing at her from where he lay in a puddle of water floundering around on the slippery kitchen floor.  
"Je suis la diabla! (I am the devil (French))" Hannah chided as she swiftly leapt to her feet and skipped out of the kitchen only to ram head long in her gleeful flight right into Trowa.  
"Pourquoi?"(Why(French)) Inquired Trowa.  
"Because I take way to much joy in that." Hannah slipped out of the way so that Trowa would see what she had currently done in the department of waking up Wufei.  
Trowa just shook his head and smiled slightly which caught Hannah off guard. He turned away from Wufei and went to the couch where Heero and Relena where busy catching what was going to be the last of their "Z's". Pilot 01's eyes snapped open as Trowa poked him lightly in the shoulder, and at first the pilot didn't seem to have anything wrong with him until he finally realized that he probably shouldn't have had that last bottle the night before and his eyes squeezed shut as he leaned his head back against the couch. Reluctantly after a few minutes, Heero stood up slowly and carefully, as not to wake up Relena, and carried the girl's sleeping figure out of the door and towards the dorm room they shared (Trinity had been officially kicked out the night before). Hannah regarded this with more than slight amusement.  
She then looked over at Wufei, who was trying to dry himself off and wasn't being able to accomplish that, and laughed. He turned quickly to face her and gave her his best "you'll regret this" glare, which only resulted in her laughing even more. She walked quickly over to Trinity and picked her up (still on that mocha chino), her friend's tall body looking very funny flung over her shoulder, and got ready to carry her friend to her dorm. She was on a mission. Before she left though, she stuck her head inside the door of the kitchen and reminded the wet one, "Je suis la diable!"  
"Evil woman!!" Wufei yelled after her as he chucked his towel at her, missing her by centimeters as she retreated into the haven of the hallway. He glanced over at Trowa from whom he had thought he heard a laugh from, but all he found was Trowa with his hands rammed into his pockets, absentmindedly whistling a tune. "And you side with these girls?"  
Trowa smirked, his back to Wufei as he commented, "You must admit they do make life a little more interesting, as well as light hearted."  
"There is no time for play during war," Wufei spat as he stormed towards the door to find himself a cup of coffee, "It only causes the weak to get injured. This is not a game."  
Trowa's smirk faded as he opened the window blinds and gazed out towards the campus grounds. "Of course there isn't. You should understand by now that we all know that."  
"Even he does." Wufei remarked roughly as he obviously indicated the only other person, though still sleeping, in the room, who was Duo still attacked by his braid to the fan.  
Trowa shut the blinds again and turned towards Wufei. "I would think that he knows that now even more than the rest of us do."Wufei's face dropped; his angry expression turned to sheepish as he slowly left the room, grabbing the wet towel to continue drying himself off on the way to his room.  
His green eyes shut as he released a deep sigh before finally attempting to deal with the situation at hand; it was going to take hours to get everything back to normal. Somebody was going to pay for messing up his side of the room, and it wasn't going to be anyone that wasn't in the immediate room; it was going to be fun to watch Duo attempt to get himself down from the fan without his help. His smile returned in the privacy of his own room as he envisioned the scene in his head.  
***  
"Wake up sunshine!!!" Hannah yelled into her sleeping friend's ear as the blonde leaned toward Trinity's face. At least, Trinity thought she was yelling, but in fact Hannah was actually whispering quite softly.  
The brunette groaned as the light flooded into her eyes and realized that morning had in fact come to make her life a living hell. "Make it stooooopppppppp," Trinity whispered to her friend as she tried to roll over to her other side and found out that it wasn't a very good idea; the room seemed to enjoy tilting in all directions when she lay on that side. She didn't exactly enjoy the boat effect very much as she didn't necessarily want to get sea sick on dry ground and especially not in Hannah's bed as the blonde would kill her if anything happened to her green blanket.  
The light hearted (probably because she was the only one without a killer headache) one skipped gleefully over to the curtains. "There's plenty of natural light out here!" Hannah flung open the blinds and the room filled with the bright rays.  
"Dun yell!" Trinity screamed as she stuck her head under the pillow in a vain attempt to hide from the horrid monster others lovingly called morning.  
"Oh, but you have to get up," Hannah ordered as she poked Trinity's side. "You just have to see Duo. It looked like somebody braided his hair to the ceiling fan!" Hannah flung herself into the kitchen with amazing speed as she began to whisk up something to wake her friend up.   
"Now that's the only part of the night that I remember at all," Trinity said, slightly smiling. She slowly sat up in her bead, her hand immediately going to her head as her temples pounded. It was just like in band when she was forced to sit right between the percussion section and the trombones, only now she knew that something could actually hurt her more than that. If she could have thought at that moment, she would have certainly been enlightened by that profound discovery.  
Hannah glanced over to her friend, seeing that she was attempting (may I stress ATTEMPTING) to get out of bed and stand on her own to feet. After realizing that Trinity looked a great deal happier than she had seconds earlier, and had a cruel, mischievous grin plastered on her face, she inquired excitedly, "For the love of pants!" A spatula flew against the wall in her excitement. "It was you who did that?!"  
"Right after he tried to kiss me," Trinity said, smiling harder right before she took a nose dive for the floor after attempting to ram her leg into her pants leg and missing by a good three inches. The dang pants just didn't seem like they wanted to stand still as she struggled to get the wriggling pair of garments on.  
"Trrriiieeddd to kiss you?! Oh really! That's quite interesting. . . . . you know a picture's worth a thousand words!" Hannah bent down behind the counter, half because she was still attempting to find her green spatula and half because she was hiding from Trinity. It was her turn to smile as she began searching for her spatula somewhere along the wall.  
The bean-pole's head jumped out from behind the bed and gazed towards the kitchen. Trinity's eyebrow's leapt from the tops of her eyes as she gave a very stupid look of confusion. "What did you say?"  
"Oh nothing."  
"I distantly heard you say something about a picture," Trinity remarked as she stood up, her pants on backwards, but in her mind, either way was just fine. She was attempting to think about what Hannah could possibly be talking about, but nothing was coming to her. "Do explain. In this state, I can't seem to remember what happened last night...let alone what just happened a minute ago.  
Oh this is just too perfect, Hannah realized as she reached into her pant pockets and retrieved a small snap shot that, as she had said it perfectly, told a thousand words about last night. She slunk towards Trinity, enjoying the look her friend was giving her and she stuck the picture right in front of the brown eyes. It showed Trinity's and Duo's spin the bottle, completely drunken kiss last night (as well as the drunken Quatre in the background giving the camera a peace sign). "So, do you enjoy what these words say to you?" Hannah flipped the picture back into her pocket and jumped away from Trinity before she could take it all in.  
Trinity stared at Hannah with absolute horror. "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!" She put her head in her hands as she flung herself back onto the bed. "When did I do that?!"  
"I took it last night. Live performance. It's amazing what you can fit into a Silence Glaive!" Hannah commented, referring to the camera she had hidden in there. She danced her way back into the kitchen; the toast was beginning to burn.  
The brunette rolled around in agony on her bed, trying to forget what she had already forgotten. "I don't believe that." She shot up straight in bed and glanced over at Hannah. "Do you think he remembers either?" Her mind was actually starting to process the few spare brain cells she left over for a rainy day. "He did have more...much more, to drink that I did. Maybe he can't remember anything either."  
"It's possible," the blonde surmised. She pointed a scolding spatula at her friend. "But hey! Maybe you won't drink next time!"  
"You truly don't have to worry about that. I think I'll punch Duo in the stomach for brining the drinks." She rolled off the bed and onto the floor; it was much cooler and more comfortable than the bed in her current state.  
"You better get up soon! We get to pilot mobilly suit thing-a-ma-bobbers," Hannah ordered as she set out the plates on the table. She realized her hands were shaking as she tried to pour out the juice into the glasses. Stupid moble suits, she thought to herself as she made her hand steady. She didn't know if she was quite ready to get into a mobile suit; something was stopping her from even thinking about it.  
A groan from Trinity over on the shag carpet cut Hannah's thoughts off short. "That's today? Shmuck." She pulled the covers off of the bed savagely and over her head once again. There was not a person in the world that was going to make her do something like that. Not today. She was just going to lie there and bask in the coolness of the floor.  
"I don't think anyone is even going to be able to pilot today. Duo had three bottles plus some of mine too. . . . and yours. . . . and Heero's. Okay, so maybe everyone else's, but that doesn't cover up the fact that you had one and three-fourths bottles!" Hannah yelled at her friend who she realized had gone into a cocoon mood. "I'm not even sure if you're going to be able to stand up...but you'll have to because I made breakfast and you're eating it no matter what."  
"Where's the aspirin?" Trinity inquired with another moan as her hand reached out from under the blanket.  
"Who said you're getting any aspirin from me? I don't have any pity for you! Trowa might, but he's not here right now," Hannah declared with an evil grin. She walked over to the brunette cowering from the day on the floor and ripped the blanket off her friend before she could get a hold on the thing. "You need to at least eat the--"  
Suddenly a long scream erupted through the halls of the dorms. "TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Duo's voice resonated around the room for a couple minutes before it finally faded away. It was now known as the scream heard 'round the dorm.  
"Dun yell Duo!" Trinity whined as she crawled into the dark recesses of the bed, only to be pulled out quickly by Hannah who wasn't going to let her get away without some breakfast. It wasn't everyday Hannah bothered with a fancy breakfast and Trinity was the last person in the world that she was going to let out of eating it.  
"You should feel honored," the blonde declared as she pulled her friend over to the table.  
***  
"You're not going to be able to get me outside," Trinity declared as she clung to the bed covers, her nails digging into the fluffy material with a patented death grip. There was two things that she was not going to do that day: go out into the sunlight and move. Hannah begged to differ as she attempted to un-pry her friend from the mattress.  
The blonde flung down the feet of her friend with an exasperated sigh; there had to be some way that she could get Trinity out of the room. Not that she actually wanted to go and learn how to pilot mobily suit thingys, in fact the very thought of it made her armpits itch (which wasn't a good thing in Hannah terms). Then it dawned on her.  
"You're going to leave this room in one minute, otherwise you will be scarred for life."  
Trinity snorted slightly and shook her head in denial; there wasn't a prayer in the world for her Hannah realized. Maybe she would warn her one last time.  
"Get out while you still can!" She screamed in a mournful cry as if someone had just died. It was very possible that someone would in just a few seconds.  
Trinity's head shot up from where she was attempted to hide under the bed from both the sun and the blonde. "What in hell are you going to do anyway?"  
"Something. Let's call it an early birthday present."  
There was a slight pause in the conversation as the two sat there. Suddenly Hannah blinked and bolted for the door. "Thar she blows! Or I...depends on how you--" Trinity could no longer hear her as her friend was too far out of the room by that time.  
Suddenly it hit; the stench crept into her nostrils and flooded into her cranium. She was going to going to pass out if she didn't leave the room very quickly.  
"OH MY GOD!" She was out of the room before she hit the word "god" and was close on Hannah's heels.  
The blonde turned towards her friend which had gone a bit greener in the face than she had been seconds before. Her eyebrow raised slightly and a sadistic smirk covered her face as the two ran towards the parking lot.  
"Noxious Gas Hannah!" Trinity screamed at her as they rounded the curve and she was blasted by the sun.  
Hannah blinked, then smiled at the name. "How in the world can you run, dear child? Adrenaline?"  
Trinity felt the nausea come flooding back as she almost passed out on the hot, black concrete. Hannah's outstretched arm stopped her inches from the ground. Trinity's brown eyes bored right into Hannah's blue, eyebrows raised. "What. In. The. World. Was. That?"  
"What was what?" Hannah asked as a van was pulling up right besides them. The two didn't know what hit them when they were all of a sudden whisked into the back seat of the vechical. "Now," Hannah turned to find Trinity sitting at her left, "The better question would be: what the hell was that?" She peered over the front seats to see Trowa driving the grey van to who knows where.   
Quatre, she found, was sitting shotgun next to his friend, the only difference was that Quatre had acquired the most ungodly pair of sunglasses she had ever seen (he had obviously borrowed from one of his sisters). After she turned to glance at her right, she figured out that Heero sat there next to her, as well as Wufei who was attempting to fling himself into the back seats.   
Her question had been answered: Heero and Wufei, in the parking lot, with the van. They had quickly hefted the two unsuspecting girls through the door and flung them onto the seats. It had been quite a trip.  
"Where are we going?" Hannah inquired of the guys around her. She found Duo in the back seat completely clothed in his usual black entourage, with an addition of a black hat and sunglasses. His expression was anything but that of joy and rapture at being left to hang by his braid. She turned back towards Trinity who still looked like she was going to pass out cold.  
Quatre turned his blonde head to glance back at her from the front and explained, "Actually, we can't trust you guys to know where exactly we're going so.." He glanced at the guys sitting in the seat behind them.  
All of a sudden, the world for the two girls went black. Trinity thanked the gods that someone had put out the sun, but Hannah wasn't exactly enthralled about the whole situation. "This isn't lookin' good." She attempted as best as she could to glance towards Trinity. "Am I the only special one, or have you joined me as well?"  
"I'm always special," Trinity grumbled as her headache throbbed louder.  
"Well, thank you captain obvious."  
"That hurt me right here."  
"I can't see you dolt."  
"And who's problem is that?"  
"Wouldn't you two just SHUT UP!" Duo more than asked, cutting the two off as he finished tying Trinity's blindfold over her eyes with one last vicious tug at the naught. Out of everyone, his hangover had to be the most "special".  
Trinity's head exploded with a new sort of wonderful pain at the final tug Duo gave. "What the hell was that for?!" She yelled and tired to whack him with her hand, missed, spun around full circle and ended up sprawled on the floor. The van took that moment to give a great lurch and she was tossed up against the driver's seat. Her hand went straight for her blindfold to rip it off so she could continue her fight on fair playing grounds, but Heero's outstretched hand stopped her in mid action. Getting the idea, she slunk back down against the driver's seat on the floor.   
Cobalt blue eyes gazed down at the sulking girl on the car floor. He knew that the terrible pounding in his head wasn't solely from her and Hannah's bickering, but whether or not she was responsible for it, she happened to be the unlucky person who he took his rage out on. He had attempted to forget about what had happened with Hidle through the many bottles of wine he had stored within his piles of clothing, but of course it had back fired on him once again.   
He came out of his thoughts as the figure on the floor moved; Duo then realized that Trinity had just stuck her tongue out at him (or rather in his general direction). A small smile grew on his solemn face as he watched her make stupid faces at him, then at Hannah. He felt his bad mood, though unfortunately not his headache, slowly lift out of him. There was no way he could stay angry when there was a girl sitting in front of him making faces that looked remarkably like a bird.  
It's almost disturbing that she's so light hearted after everything that's happened to her, he mused as he glanced out the van's window next to him and at the streets and trees they were passing by on the way. Then again, I'm always joking around in the midst of battles. Duo chuckled a little bit as he remembered how Quatre had told him he had an unfair advantage over his enemies: he could annoy them to death.  
The van slowly came to a smooth, gliding stop; Trowa was driving very carefully as to not arrose the wrath of his friends who were currently feeling a wrath of a different kind. He hoped from the driver's side and opened the door behind him to find Trinity sitting on the floor, arms crossed in a very defiant manner, making strange faces at the others she was facing. He was amazed at the range of movements she could make her features go into, but his expression remained blank as he grabbed her hand and pulled her carefully out of the care.  
"We're here," Quatre informed the others, seemingly wanting to become mister obvious. Duo and Wufei followed Heero out of the car after he had grabbed Hannah and pulled her along with him.  
The two were lead by the boys, still blindfolded, to what seemed to be a gravel road, though one can't be too sure of these things while blindfolded. When they finally stopped, Trowa and Heero removed their blindfolds and allowed the girls to glance around for a bit.  
Hannah was the first to respond to their surroundings. "Where in pants name are we?"  
Spider webs and dust lay around the place as if it had been set there by a decorator. The ceiling, though very tall, seemed to have many holes in it and the sun glided down through them, scattering light on the concrete floor below. Dust balls flooded the suns raise, causing the room to seem smokey and unclear. The walls on all four sides didn't contain one window and the only opening that they could tell was the door they had just entered from.  
"Why, exactly, are we here now?" Trinity inquired of everyone, thanking the gods silently that there wasn't very many windows and the lighting was generally very dim.  
"We're going to give you a very basic training in piloting mobile suits, just in case there is ever a time when we need your assistance in battle," Heero explained as he walked over to what seemed to be a large panel filled with many multi-colored, shiny buttons.  
"Battle," Trinity mumbled under her breath as she drew pictures with her foot in the dust that covered the floor completely.  
Suddenly, the dust shook slightly and the floor in front of her began to split open. Five mobile suits rose seemingly from out of the floor. Trinity didn't know a thing about mobile suits, but it seemed that these were some sort of older mobile that had been retrieved just recently and then made to look more, as she would describe it, "shiny" (AKA, they had been redone and ''souped' up). They were still nothing compared to the Gundams she had seen on the news during the last couple of years.  
"Mobilly suit thingys!! Although. . . I'm kinda afraid of them. . . . but that's okay, " Hannah exclaimed, obviously worried as her voice cracked. She looked the mobile suits up and down as if trying to remember something or figure out that she was dreaming. "Unless I have to get in it." Her whole body started shaking all of a sudden, but it left as quickly as it had came, though she still felt very cold as she took a step back away from the suits.  
"Well, you're gonna have to do that, " Trinity commented, grinning wickedly and oblivious to the change in Hannah's usual giddy attitude as she too gazed up at the suits.  
Hannah finally got into control of her emotions and body. She whacked Trinity across the back of the head for her remark as she yelled, "Shut up, drunk!"  
"YOU CAN'T CALL ME THAT ANYMORE AND WATCH THE HEAD!!!" Trinity declared as she put her throbbing head into her hands, closing her eyes so that even the smallest rays of light couldn't get into them.  
"Let's get started," Heero ordered. He had a very bad hang over and right now wanted to hurt someone; that someone could very possibly be anyone who got in his way of this mission of training the two. That, and he didn't want any more yelling between the two girls because it was sending his headache up the scale of pain. He reached over and pulled down the lever to create zero gravity in the old hanger, much to the surprise of the uninformed girls, and everyone started to slowly lift off the ground.  
That was when it happened; Hannah snapped. She started screaming and babbling about the suits and space, and it was all Trowa and Trinity could do to shove her into the mobile suit. They were just getting her strapped in, when the limbs stopped flying and kicking. Hannah suddenly seemed just as normal as ever as she glared into the eyes of her assaulters.  
"I must get bigger!!" Hannah declared as Trowa strapped her into the seat. "My dream, my new one anyway, is to become a sumo wrestler."  
"Since when did this come up?" Trintiy inquired. She didn't wait for the answer though, as she was worried Hannah would dive out of the suit any time so Trowa hurriedly pushed off of the cockpit, and Trowa shut the door.  
"No! I'm afraid!!" Hannah screamed. Sweat started dripping down the back of her neck as she fumbled around with the clasp on the seatbelt, but much to her dismay she couldn't figure exactly how it worked. "Aurora can pilot for me!!" Her voice echoed through the hanger from out of the loudspeakers.  
"I'm piloting at the same time anyway," Trinity said as she hopped into her suit and got everything ready on her side. She had been in one of the suits before, but never had she actually attempted to make it move or do anything else; this was going to be interesting. Her head fell into her hand as her headache ate away at her mental thought.  
Duo, Heero, and Wufei were the ones that decided they would teach the girls how to pilot. Duo had been forced into it by Quatre and Trowa who wanted him to pay as much as possible for the night before. It was general knowledge that Wufei intended to get his revenge from Hannah for the mornings events.  
"Can I pass out now?" Hannah inquired of the group as she slunk down into her cushy seat and tried to not push the buttons out in front of her. That was getting to be quite a challenge though as some of them were quite shiny, and it intrigued her as to what they all accomplished.  
"No," Trowa put in simply from where he stood next to Quatre on the hangers floor amongst the dust bunnies and such. He crossed his arms defiantly and stared up at Hannah's mobile suit in a silent dare for her to leave the cockpit.  
"Dang it," Hannah grumbled as she fiddled around with the seat belt a bit. It was starting to cut off the circulation to her legs as Trinity obviously didn't have a clue how to tighten the thing correctly. The unpleasant tingling started to build in her legs; what a great and joyous day it was.  
"Okay." Duo was looking up at the ceiling of his cockpit with a great look of disgust. This was the last thing that he wanted to do that day. First of all, there had been a really great soap on that he had intended to watch, and secondly, his head was about ready to explode. "Do you girls have any idea what you're doing?"  
"Not a fudgin' clue,"Trinity and Hannah chorused. It sent shivers down the guys' spines as to how in the world they could talk in perfect unison together; they were not going to ask any questions.  
"Press the red button marked 'on' to turn it on," Duo remarked sarcastically. He and the other guys did just that, and the suits jolted into life. Dust from the hanger shot everywhere as they brought their suits into standing position. Their vision finally cleared after the dust began to slowly sink to the floor once again.  
"No really, Duo," Trinity shot back. She was still slightly disgruntled about the whole blindfold thing.  
"Thank you captain obvious," Hannah remarked as she pushed the button timidly. She gripped the seat tightly as the suit jerked upright.  
"Now see that joystick?" Duo continued with his lesson for the utterly helpless.  
"Yes!" the girls cried; they seemed to think otherwise. They may not be the quickest bunch, but they weren't the ''utterly helpless' in the least, and neither one of them was the least bit blind.  
"How dumb do you think we are?" Trinity asked.  
"Well-- " Duo started to comment.   
"Mission accepted," Heero interrupted as he moved his suit to smack Duo's in the head. Everyone was getting sick of Duo's attitude that moment, and he had simply accepted the mission to make him shut his whiney mouth. He turned on his intercom and explained to the girls, "Just use it like you would a gaming joystick. Right for right, left for left."  
"Really," Trinitys said as she keenly pushed the joystick forward; maybe it wasn't going to be so hard after all. Or so she thought.  
The controls were a lot more sensitive than she had figured on them being, so her suit collided right into Hannah's, and the two went suits scratched like nails on a chalkboard as they rammed together. Dust again rose into the air, and no one could do anything about it until it settled once again.  
"Learn to pilot a mobily sit thingy for God's sakes!!!" Hannah screamed into her intercom at Trinity. "I nearly wet myself that time!"  
"I'm TRYING to do just that!" Trinity flung back.   
"Quiet, both of you. To fly, hold down the green button on the joystick and steer," Heero said impatiently. There was no way that he was going to let the two of them get into another death match; this time they were in suits and that could just endanger everyone's lives. Plus, he didn't need their bickering every second of the day.  
"This is going to be interesting," Quatre mumbled to himself with a smile as he regarded the two girls' suits from the floor of the hanger.  
The girls pushed down the button and shot up towards the ceiling of the hanger. They felt as if their bodies were being pressed down into the seats as they climbed higher and higher, Hannah finally stopping her ascent as her suit ceased its movement in midair.  
"I don't like heights, I don't like heights!!!! I've never ever been in an airplane!!" Hannah screamed into the intercom as the others winced at her shrill voice. A lone drip of sweat started trickling slowly down her forehead as she glanced around, eyes wide with terror as she searched for an escape.  
"Weeeee!!!" Trinity didn't hear her friend's call of fear over her own joyous scream. "This is just like a roller coaster, or . . . ummm. . . .flying!!!" She lifted her finger off of the green button and came to a slow, gradual stop just under the ceiling of the hanger. After realizing her friend wasn't exactly up as high as her, she changed her view so she could look down at the blonde's suit.  
"It is flying," Duo said in his own charismatic little way (it WAS loved by millions) as he crossed his arms in his suit and just watched with slight amusement to Trinity as she started attempting to descend to her friend.   
Trowa's lone green eye glanced up at the two from where he was standing by Quatre and it sparkled slightly as he informed, "The easiest and simplest way to shoot something is the trigger under the joy stick. You can try it out if you wish, as long as you don't hit the walls of the hanger."  
"Or us," Duo grumbled.  
"THAT'S OK!!! I'd rather not!" Hannah slunk away in fear from the joystick. She wasn't even going to try to shoot anything; it just wasn't her thing and she was sure that she would have terrible aim though she had never tried. In spite of this, she had to admit that it did sound like fun; fire was one thing that she enjoyed playing with. Big explosions, even better. And there was nothing better than fire AND big explosions, as long as she was far away and there was no possibility of her getting injured  
"What's the matter, Hannah?" Tirnity asked, menacingly as she realized her friend's hesitation to try out their new ''toy'.  
"Can't I use this instead?" Hannah questioned as she randomly pulled her Silence Glaive out from behind her; her nerves were reaching their breaking point and she wasn't quite sure what she was going to end up doing when they snapped.  
"No," Quatre informed her as kindly as he could, though very bluntly.  
"It's not like I'm going to kill anyone! Why in hell do I need to know this!? I can just go around and do just fine with my Silence Glaive here...there is no reason that--"  
"Great. Weak women," Wufei interrupted from over to the girls' left where he and the other two pilots were standing and gazing up at the girls.  
That was when Hannah's last nerve broke. There was no stopping her after that; her thought process had completely left her. "That's it you male chauvinist pig!! Eat my ammo!!!" She shrieked as she unloaded on his suit, catching Wufei completely off guard.  
Wufei quickly responded and turned his suit out of the line of fire as he cursed up a storm under his breath. The damage, though, was already done and his cockpit was smoking. Sparks flew up at his face as he opened up the door and flung himself into the air as to get away from the smoldering suit. "What were you thinking?!"  
"Go Hannannah!!" Trinity congratulated her friend as she finally figured out how to descend down to Hannah's level.  
"Do you have a death wish as well?!" Hannah sung her suit around to face Trinity's, but the controls, as Trinity had found them, were a lot more sanative then she would ever have imagined and she plowed right into the wall with a resounding thud.  
"That is so it!" Hannah started pressing the buttons on the control panel at random, hoping that one would be the cockpit door and not a self destruct device. When the large, metal door finally swung open, she quickly unbuckled herself with shaky hands and flung herself out into the gravityless air. She couldn't believe what she had just done as she slowly floated to the ground; hating heights and jumping from a high altitude wasn't a very good combination, but anything to get her out of the mobile suit was fine for her. As she landed on the ground, she sank to her knees and kissed it over and over again.  
"Like the ground?" Trinity asked as she landed next to her friend, smirking slightly.  
"Just as a friend," Hannah responded, lifting her blonde head to glare at her friend who dared poke fun at her after what she had jut been through. The brunette one did have a death wish and she wasn't going to let her off Scott free this time.  
The guys found them there. On the floor. Hannah's lips only inches away from it.  
"That was interesting," Heero crossed his arms as he looked to Hannah who was still kneeling on the ground. The blond slowly straitened up and looked the Perfect soldier in the eye with a mixture of hatred and awe. He seemed so unemotional and detached when he was in his mobile suit; she felt almost uneasy around someone who didn't freak out when they pressed the trigger of a gun.  
"The lesson is over," Duo declared, relieved as he appeared from behind Heero. "We figure that we can almost trust Trinity with a mobile suit, but there is no way that we will ever give the controls of anything to Hannah. Unless we need someone to man the fire arms." He smirked slightly at the image in his head of Wufei leaping out of his smoking suit; it had been, he had to admit, the most entertaining thing he had seen that day.  
"Good riddance to the things," Hannah declared, turning around and glaring towards the suits. She had no wish to ever enter one again, at least not by her own free will. "But you're right. I do have the missles down,"she said, smiling evilly. "Right, Wufei?" Her blonde head turned to glance over her shoulder at the charred child.  
"Serves you right," Trinity informed Wufei, her face forming into a smirk as well. The dust was beginning to settle as she glanced up at the forms of the mobile suits in the hanger, a small chill running down her spine. She shook it off and tried to think about something else. Then a very funny thought popped into her mind as she turned around to face Wufei as well. "Now you've been beaten by a woman."

***

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	9. The Mission

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Nine

"The Mission"

By Magic and the Little Fairy From Nam

Persian blue eyes scanned the screen underneath thick, dark brown eyebrows. The eyebrows came together as the eyes started to read the information on the page; the orbs of blue narrowed slightly as they finished reading. Soon the light that was reflected in them dimmed, and Heero Yuy closed his black laptop with a small click. His eyes scanned the room as he looked to make sure all four of the other pilots where present in Duo and Trowa's dormitory. After affirming that each of them was there, he slowly rose from the couch as he placed his computer to the side and straightened his thin form.

"We have a mission," he told the guys with a slight annoyed edge in his voice. He was surprised that this had happened, but after his surprise had faded, all he felt was a deep hatred for whoever had gotten that information he was given.

"What now? Are the toilets plugged in your bathroom again?" Duo remarked jokingly from where he sat reading the comics on his pile of clothing (a.k.a., his bed). For his comment he received the Heero death glare. He went back to attempting to read his comics without glancing at Heero again for he valued his life greatly.

"No." Heero wasn't in the mood for Duo's side remarks and joking. This was very serious if he had read the information right, and they needed to do something about it right away. "I thought after the war had ended that all the data on the zero system had been erased completely, but for some reason there is one base here that still uses the system for something."

"Big deal. We have the system as well. They can't even hope to touch us with that after we've all broken it," Duo quacked confidently from the side of the room, his blue eyes not even bothering to glance up from the book.

Heero let out an exasperated sigh. Duo was too much for him to handle today; where was his gun when he needed it. (Maybe he left it in his pantyhose from the ball night?) "It's not the regular zero system." He walked purposefully over to Duo's bed and ripped the book out of his hands. "They've mutated it," he growled as he gazed down at Duo, "changed it. Even I don't know what it does or what they use it for now, but I think we need to get our hands on it."

Duo had receded into the covers and dirty laundry of his bed as far as he could to get away from Heero; whatever he had found out about the thing had caused Heero to become very worried. Pilot 02 glanced up as his fellow man with slight curiosity. Was that maybe even some fear that Duo read in Heero's eyes?

He never got to find out as Heero turned around to look at the others. "Unfortunately, I can't seem to hack into the base's layout plans or anything. They're too heavily guarded. Whatever that system is, they're keeping it under very tight lock and key."

"Why don't we ask the girls?" Duo took his chances with another snide remark as he tried to lighten up the situation.

Heero's face contorted into a slight smirk. "That was exactly what I was thinking."

"What?!" Duo and Wufei almost fell off of what they were sitting on in their surprise. Wufei was still nursing the bruises that he had received from Hannah that morning; there was no way that he was going to take her on a mission, especially if it was something this important.

Trowa's eyebrow raised slightly above his eye as he looked out the window. "Why do you think they will know anything about it, Heero?" Quatre nodded in agreement to the question as he turned quizzingly towards the brunette.

"I logged into the visitor files of who stayed there recently. I'll give you two guesses who spends a lot of time there."

It wasn't like Heero to make them play guessing games as he briefed them for a mission. There was a short, stunned silence as the others wondered whether or not he actually wanted an answer, but Heero didn't seem like he was going to go on with the facts until they did.

Wufei glanced up from the seat he was sitting on in the kitchen of the dorm room. "Trinity Renada."

"Exactly. Her step-brother is stationed there. Her and her step-father would visit him from time to time. She's the only one out of us that has ever been in that base." Heero sat down next to his laptop on the couch once again and put his hands behind his head as he seemed to get lost in thought.

Duo's mind finally took in the information. "Her step-brother..." He leapt off of the bed and onto his feet. "You mean Nadir?!" His voice cracked slightly on the name as his eyes glided over to Heero for the answer.

Heero's thought was shattered and he looked over at the pilot in black. "Our mission has nothing to do with him at the moment. We're going to be lucky to get in and out with the data without going around shooting the leader of the base. You will not touch Nadir Renada on this mission, so don't even think about going off on your own to get your revenge."

Quatre's blonde head nodded in agreement. "It's not the right time, Duo. Please, understand. If you go off now, you'll be endangering the girls' lives as well, as I'm sure Hannah will be attending if we're going to be taking Trinity along."

"Plus, we're not even sure he's there at all these days. We haven't been able to trace his movements for half a year now," Trowa pointed out.

Wufei shifted his weight in his chair. "That's the whole reason we took in the brat isn't it? To find Nadir? We don't know if he's at the base or not. He's almost like a shadow."

Duo shoved his hands in his black pockets, completely disappointed at his friends' reactions and orders for him to behave. "Sure. I understand."

"Glad to hear that for once," Heero chided from the side as he replaced his hands behind the back of his head. He loved it when he got the last laugh in, though he would never let anyone know that.

  
  


***

  
  


His dark blue eyes scanned the immediate area as his tall frame entered the hallway. Several soldiers at the farther end saluted him and quickly got out of his way. He stuffed his hand in on of his pant pockets and walked on, his long blue jacket trailing behind him, yellow tassels dancing ever so slightly on his shoulders.

Perfect entrance, he quirked to himself as he watched some soldiers gaze at him keenly through the windows, their expressions a mix of awe and fear.

Nadir Renada ran his hand through his light blonde hair and tried to move his annoying bangs away from his eyes. The headache had finally subsided after he had gotten out of the spacecraft, but he still had an ever so slight feeling of uneasiness that washed over him.

"Sir!" Suddenly on of his lackeys jumped out from the doorway right to his left. Nadir felt himself jump at least three feet into the air as his shot nerves gave out. The soldiers arm went straight into a salute and awaited for Nadir to calm himself. "Sorry to interrupt you, sir, but you have an urgent call."

Nadir's right hand reached over and covered his chest as he made sure that he was still alive. He propped himself up against the wall with his other hand and just leaned against it for awhile, slowing his rapidly beating heart. "What. Are. You. Trying to DO?!" Nadir's blonde hair fell into his eyes once again. "Remind me to send an order out to have your testicles removed with a cheese grater!"

He realized that everyone in the hall was starring at him through opened doors and small windows on the sides of the walls. As he reached up purposefully and pushed back his hair from his face once again, he shoved his way passed the soldier and through the door, sending his coat with a flick of his hand behind him for one last whasp as he attempted to regain his poise he had just held moments before.

It would have worked if he hadn't of gotten it caught in the door during his 'dramatic' exit. All of the doors in the hall slammed shut as no one wanted their commander to hear them laughing at his expense.

  
  


***

  
  


"I can't believe we're actually going to do this," Duo grumbled as he and Wufei shuffled through the halls next to each other behind the other three. Hands stuffed into his pockets, Mr. Maxwell hadn't stopped whining from their dorm room to the girls'. The group stopped on the door in front of them.

Even the amiable Quatre was running out of patience with his braided friend. "Duo. There isn't any other way to get around the base in the short amount of time that we are given. Try to understand that taking Trinity isn't something that we WANT to do. It's more of a must. That said, could you at least attempt to get along with her for a day? Untwist your panties now."

Trowa needed something to keep him from laughing at Quatre's comment, so he amused himself with knocking on the girls' door in the rhythm of "The Phantom of the Opera". A shuffling could be heard from inside the living room adjacent to the doorway, and shortly the door swung open to reveille Hannah standing there clothed completely in pet me.

"There isn't a food in the world that could make me get back into those mobile suits so don't even attempt," she started closing the door in attempt to make them go away, when Wufei stuck his foot inside the door.

The blonde one took a glance at his foot then looked up to face Wufei. A sadistic smirk flew across her face, and Wufei barely had time to remove his foot from the door before Hannah swung it shapely closed in an attempt to remove his toes. 

Wufei growled at the now shut door as the other pilots blinked in confusion, trying to register what had just gone on.

"Well...I guess this means that we can leave now, yes? I thought so." Duo spun on his heels and started walking down the hallway, only to be brought to an abrupt halt as the back of his head pulled sharply behind him. He slowly turned around to see Heero holding on to the other end of his braid. "You could attempt to think of a more original way of stopping me you know," the braided on chided his fellow pilot.

Heero's hand reached into his tank top and pulled out a gun quickly. It's black nozzle pointed straight at Duo's forehead right between his two eyes. "This original enough for you?"

"Nicely done," Duo remarked, a small bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face even though he was smiling like a clown.

"We don't have time for these games," Wufei growled at the two after he had made sure he still had ten toes. Quatre and Trowa nodded in their agreement just as the door opened once again. 

Hannah again stood in the doorway; she seemed to be slightly concerned as to why they were still standing outside her and Trinity's dorm. "Are we all taking up a new profession as stalkers?" Her light blue eyes landed on the gun in Heero's hand that was still aimed at Duo's head and both of her eye brows raised. He finally drove someone off the deep end. Like I thought. It was only a matter of time. 

  
  


Heero removed the gun and stuck it once again into it's hiding place. "We're in a hurry." He, followed closely by the others, pushed their way through the door, past Hannah, and into the living room. Trinity, who had been sitting on the couch wrapped in her blankets reading, glanced up from the paperback and starred at the visitors quizzingly. Her eyes darted over to Hannah who was still standing in the doorway. Her blonde friend shrugged showing she was just as out of the loop as Trinity was.

"What's going on?" Trinity inquired as she looked around the room at all of the grim faces.

Heero wasn't one to beat around the bush with things of importance. "Has either of you ever been to Diana base?" He made it sound like he directed it towards the both of the girls, but his eyes were almost boring holes into Trinity.

Hannah walked over towards Trinity; Trinity glanced over towards her friend Hannah. The blondes face radiated complete stupification, while her friends shown with a genuine curiosity. Trinity lay her book down onto the couch besides her and pretended to be straightening her blanket out over her lap. Why would they ask such a thing? Had they figured out who she was?

"Why in the world would we have any clue about this base?" Hannah didn't understand where the five boys were coming from with their question, or, for that matter, where they were going. "Did I blast you all too hard with the missiles yesterday?" She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned up against the door.

"Actually," Trinity said after a long moment of contemplating,"I do know my way around." She figured that if they had found out about her identity, she would have already been killed the moment the guys entered the room. Plus, she really didn't have anything to lose. "Why do you care?" Hannah's arms slowly uncrossed from where she was sitting as she regarded her friend oddly.

"Mission," Heero put in before Duo could give it away. He was still staring at Trinity and taking in all of her actions and reactions to the topic at hand. He wasn't sure he actually wanted to bring her along, but there wasn't any other way around it. It was the mission that he was going to have to worry about at the moment, not the girl's well being.

"What mission?" Trinity's eyes widened slightly. She knew that she was being overly paranoid, but what if they were going to the base in an attempt to see her brother. It wasn't going to be a pretty sight to say the least if Nadir found her or the guys figured out her identity.

"A little nosey aren't you? Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?" Duo quirked from the sidelines. He hadn't listened to Quatre and untwisted his panties before he had gotten into the room. It wasn't the fact that Trinity was going along that bothered him as much as the fact that his fellow pilots wouldn't let him at Nadir while they possibly had a chance to take him out.

Trinity's face went white at the mention of her mother but luckily for her, she could open her book in front of her face to hide her expression. "I think I have a right to know what's going on if it has to do with me."

"We need to retrieve something," Heero shot in before the two had a chance to get any farther into their arguments which could last for long spans of hours, only ending when both of the two lost their voices or was hit over the head with something very hard and blunt. He was sure that Hannah had just that very 'something' on hand at all times, but he had one nerve left and he didn't want it to snap. Nothing good ever came of that.

"What do you want to get back?" The brunette was so interested now that she was almost falling off the couch as she leaned forward with anticipation. Her book had been put aside the moment that she felt her heart rate return to normal; all of her senses were pointed at the guys and their information.

Heero's eyes became slightly cold and his expression took on that of a mother not wanting to argue with the child anymore. "End of discussion."

"We were hoping that you could accompany us," Quatre explained as patiently and kindly as he could possibly muster up under the circumstances. "Help us get in and out of the building faster and show us to an area that we can't find on our own. Simple as that."

Brown eyes widened as she shifted uncomfortably on the couch; she suddenly felt as if she was trapped into this mission. Had she known that she was going to actually have to accompany the guys to the base, she may have answered differently to whether she had ever been to the base or not. As of now though, there wasn't anything she could do to change what she had told them; if she backed out now she would be helping Nadir and whoever he was working for. That was one thing that she could not do."Sure," Trinity said. 

Suddenly butterflies flew through her stomach at mach speed as her memory decided to remind her of a 'small' fact seconds too late: that was the base her brother was stationed at. Please don't let him be there...just for once...let him be away from the base! She pleaded to herself as she gazed forward, her eyes slightly glazed over.

"Aurora?" Hannah waved her hand in front of her friend's face several times before the brunette noticed her friend was there. Trinity's eyes focused and she snapped out of her daydream. 

Heero had seen the reaction; he had weighted the costs of brining the girl with them. The mission had to be completed as soon as possible. He had been given no other choice, but something still gnawed at his being. "We leave now," he declared, his voice sounding a little more stressed than he had planned. They had to leave before he changed his mind.

"You are not leaving me here! All I need is my Silence Glaive and my change sock," Hannah announced defiantly as her blonde head whirled around to face the men who where starting towards the door. "You can't steal Aurora away without bringing me along."

Trowa found himself sighing before he knew what he was even doing; this had been the one thing that he had hoped to avoid. He didn't want Hannah to go along at all because it was a good chance that one if not both of the girls would get harmed. He had hoped, but even then he had known it wasn't going to do any good. "Are you sure? It's going to be real war out there? Have you ever seen a battlefield?" 

"I don't care what's out there. I'm not gonna get stuck with Relena and Ex-Double Brow, unless you want them dead." Hannah had spoken; it had been decreed. She was going along. Her chin stuck out as she crossed her arms and dared anyone to tell her otherwise.

"Do as you will," Trowa replied without a smile as he turned towards the doorway.

***

"One star. Two star. Lottsa Star." Trinity held her head in her hands as she gazed out the shuttle window at space which seemed much like the screen of a blank television.

Hannah turned around and gave Trinity The Eyebrow. "Yes, dear. There are many stars out there. It being space and all." She reached out her hand to give Trinity two quick pats on her head before turning back around in her seat and staring straight forward and muttering, "Thank you, Captain Obvious. What the hell am I doing here? I don't even like space travel. You slipped something into my drink didn't you!"

Since the remark wasn't aimed at anyone in the ship, no one took much heed to the blonde's ranting, especially since it was her decision to go along in the first place. It wasn't long until the ship docked with the base, and everyone around them began standing up. They had decided to take a civilian visitor ship to the base, while Quatre stayed out in mid space, ready to pick them up if anything went wrong (which Heero was almost positive was going to happen; Trowa had told him the odds weren't in their favor earlier that day, and the banged pilot was rarely wrong in those matters).

"Is everyone ready to go through with this?" Quatre's voice sounded next to their eardrums through the little earpieces they had been given earlier.

Heero grumbled as he adjusted the earpiece (Quatre's female like voice was really shrill at times),"It's too late to turn back now."

"It's never too late to turn back!" The two girls declared as they slunk around the guys, towards the space craft in front of them; generally, their nerves had snapped on the long ride over without even a bagel to munch on.

"Weak women," Wufei muttered under his breath; he wasn't in the mood for a change sock in the forehead, though who is?

"Shut up now," Trinity shouted as Hannah yelled," Male chauvinist pig!" They both stopped in their tracks though and returned to the guys' sides, arms crossed and red faced. 

Trowa's green eye glanced over at the two girls as he inquired,"Have your weapons?" He whispered under his breath as he stood directly behind the two and motioned ever so slightly with his bangs at the two backpacks filled with clothing.

A small smirk slide over Hannah's face as she nodded. "Whatever you gave me has got a kick. Ba-boom!" Her sound effects were slightly over done and the crowds around her turned slightly her way. "Ba-boom...went the little green frog one day....ba-boom...went the little green frog?" Trinity went along with her coverup and did the hand motions to the song. 

Duo grabbed the back of the girls' shirts as they continued with their song and dance number (all were afraid of the approaching kick line) and pulled them out of the public eye. "There will be no causing a scene today. It's called being DISCRETE." (Says the God of Death...)

"Duo knows a big word! Like onomatopoeia, only Aurora can probably spell this one," Hannah remarked smartly as they were hurried down the hallways, farther and farther from the safety of the ship. The boring, lifeformlessness of the hallways droned on in its grey splendor; Trinity had somehow magically ended up at the head of the parade and was leading them towards the room Heero had told her about earlier. It wasn't too hard to find as she had been there many times in the past few years; all one had to do was keep track of the room numbers.

Trinity finally stopped the group in front of a very boring and normal door; one that no one would have found anything particularly interesting or out of the ordinary. She leaned forward and placed her hand on the button pad that lay before her and slowly typed in her ten number entrance code. 

"There. It's done." The grey door swung to the side, and room filled with green and red flashing computer lights was revealed to them all. "Now what are we doing?" Trinity had only been blindly following orders the whole time and still didn't understand what they were doing there in the least.

***

Random soldier number thirty-six sat at his desk, sipping slowly on his mocha café when something not entirely random happened before his very eyes. Looking forward onto the screen, his first reaction was to sniff the café that he had been drinking and make sure it was tainted in some unusual way. Convinced that it was not the caffeine that was giving him the name upon the screen, he turned to his commander. "Ah, sir?"

"What is it this time, Fitzgerald?" Nadir inquired, his tone restless and just with a 'slight' hint of exasperation. He flung his paper clip at the young soldier's head as he spun around in his chair.

The soldier blinked very slowly as if he still wasn't sure if this was a dream or not. "You may want to come and take a gander at this. Someone just entered the specialized computer room with a clearance code that matches...well, you had just better look over at this."

Nadir reluctantly flung himself out of his cushy chair and sauntered over to the other side to glance down at the screen. "What is the big de-" His mind registered the name very slowly as his mouth formed the letters slowly, making no sound. After a few more seconds of staring, he straightened up and turned towards the door.

"What are you going to do about this, Sir?" Soldier Thirty-Six had just recently thrown his café over his shoulder. 

Nadir didn't even glance over his shoulder to answer as the door slammed shut behind him. The soldier made a mental note to put in his resignation that very day and take up something less dangerous like mid-space construction.

***

"I'll do this," Wufei growled as he shoved past the brunette who stood in front of the doorway. "This isn't a job for the weak."

"Do you have a death wish?!" Hannah yelled into Wufei's face as she grabbed the back of his shirt and spun him around on his heels, mid step. Blue eyes bore into black ones as the two prepared for a stare down.

Heero flicked a disk at Wufei's head in his exasperation; it hit the Chinese pilot square between the eyes and left a wonderful corner imprint on his forehead. Wufei blinked and caught the disk in his hands, his eyes narrowing at his fellow pilot. 

"We aren't supposed to make a scene, remember Wufei?" Heero called over his back as he strolled into the computer room and sat down at one of the keyboards, his fingers naturally beginning a session of keys.

Wufei fumed silently as he passed into the room, followed closely by the other two pilots that remained in the hall; the girls were the last to enter, Hannah at the tail because her temper was still on seek and destroy.

The black haired pilot sulked for a bit more, but managed to recover. "Trowa, take guard. Women, don't do anything. Duo, don't TOUCH ANYTHING!" He took a seat next to Heero and inserted the disk into its corresponding compartment.

"What about this button?" Duo asked as he pointed over towards the green button right in front of Heero.

"No."

"What about this one?" he questioned, pointing at the large blue button to the left of the first.

"No."

"Oh, come on, Wufei!" The braided pilot exclaimed; it wasn't even worth coming if there were no buttons to be pressed. It was bad enough having to bring Trinity along, but now there wasn't even anything shiny to press.

"NO." The rest of the manly crew joined in that time; they had thought that Trinity and Hannah had been acting without thought earlier. Now one of their own wanted to press random buttons. Where was it going to end? 

"BUT THIS ONE'S JUST BEGGING TO BE PUSHED!!" Duo's braid flew around a bit as he shook his head with enthusiasm.

"NO!"

Around this time, Trowa, who had been slowly edging his way towards the braided one, punched Duo forcefully in the stomach. As Duo doubled over in pain, Trowa said simply," As Heero said 'once is once'. You annoy me, you get punched."

"Hey that rhymed!" Trinity declared overly excited by her new discovery and immediately got whacked on the back of her head by a change sock. Her combined shock with seeing Trowa punch Duo and her slight concussion made the room spin ever so slightly.

"I've got it," Wufei put in as he turned away from the computer screen in perfect sync with Heero who also got out of the chair and walked towards the middle of the room.

"Can we leave now?" Trinity was getting the jitters and a splitting headache from the change sock that had recently connected with her cranium.

Duo, who had recently pulled himself off the floor where Trowa had dropped him, turned towards Trinity as he slowly rubbed his stomach tenderly. "I'm ready to leave myself. Let's jet." 

Wufei, disk in hand, was the first to stick his head out of the door; bullets flew past his head and landed in the wall slightly farther down.

"That can't be good," Duo exclaimed, his cobalt eyes widening at the sound of the bullets taking off more of the wall and parts of the door. Chunks of concrete flew into the room as it filled with dust and debris. 

"Thank you again, Mister Obvious," Hannah said sarcastically as she picked a piece of plaster out of her hair.

Duo, not noticing the sarcasm over the droning sound of the guns, replied," You're welcome." The other pilots hung their heads slightly in shame.

All of a sudden, a small sphere shaped ball flew in though the doorway and landed in the middle of the room. Within moments, it was releasing tear gas onto the unsuspecting inhabitants; their eyes filled with salty tears as the gas became thicker and thicker until one couldn't see their own hand in front of their face. 

"It just got worse," Duo put in, though his coughs, not sounding exactly thrilled at the recent developments.

"And Mister Obvious strikes again," Hannah mumbled, inaudibly through the haze to no one but herself.

"Ready yourselves," Heero ordered everyone as the smoke began to clear slightly. "Our best chance is to surprise them by running before the smoke clears completely so they can't see us as easily."

"On three," Trowa put in, calculating the right moment in his head. "One, two, -"

"Trois!" The two girls screamed in unison, hoping that they were pointed in the direction of the door and not running full throttle towards the wall. Six bodies burst through the gas and flung themselves into the hallway. Trowa had calculated correctly, as far as he was concerned, for none of them were critically hit at all, except there was something that he hadn't put into the equation: Hannah's hair. A bullet from one of the gunman flew through her hanging blonde hair, removing a slight bit of it which tumbled to the ground. The blonde was traumatized. 

"Ne touchez pas les cheveux!!!" Hannah screamed insanely as she opened fire on the soldiers; they dropped like flies. Eventually everybody has to run out of bullets, though, and when Hannah did, there was one soldier left in the immediate hallway as the others lay in defeated, mangled heaps on the floor. Her mind went straight for the animal approach. She took care of him with a change sock to the head, and a Silence Glaive to the gut as he came flying in a last attempt to subdue the intruders. His bravery did nothing for him though, as the glaive easily pierced his skin. Deep red blood soon soaked through his uniform and dripped to the floor as Hannah ripped it out of his stomach; he crumbled to the floor, his face the whiter shade of pale. 

"Who's the weak one now?" she mumbled, her eyes shifting towards Wufei who stood, his mouth hanging slightly open directly to her left. Her nerves had finally snapped, but everything that snaps, eventually turns to normal and her eyes cooled down slightly and the normal color returned to her face. Her light blue eyes focused once again, and this time on the crumpled man on the floor in front of her.

"I killed someone." Hannah whispered softly, her eyes widening at the site of the blood that flowed freely across the tile floor and towards the walls, trickling towards her shoes ever so slowly.

The tiny rivers of blood began melting into each other as Hannah's world titled on edge and was flung upside down. Her blood rushed to her head, and the world soon went black at the last reserve of nerves snapped completely, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Hannah Date fell towards her left, only just missing the floor as Wufei caught her by elbow just before she crashed head long into the tile. He slung her over the shoulder opposite of the hand in which he held the disk and sprinted over towards the others.

They all ran down the hall following Trinity towards what they hoped was the area where Quatre had docked their get away ship. More guards could be heard behind them and opened fire as they reached a fork in the hallway. Heero and Trowa, who were leading the pack, sprinted towards the right at Trinity's directions. It was just luck (Trowa's calculations had been completely thrown off by Hannah's slight "hissy fit")that a stray bullet hit Wufei's hand and knocked the disk out of his hands and into the left passage. 

Trinity dived for the disk and was followed by Duo down the left passage. The path behind them was a cloud of bullets so Trinity exclaimed, "Let's go down this way!" And the two took off in the opposite direction rather than chance the bullets that were erupting behind them.

Wufei was slightly stunned by the gun wound and slowed his speed just enough for the soldiers to catch up with him. Their guns trained on him, he lifted his one free hand in the air, resisting the urge to drop Hannah right on her head.

"Give me the girl," A young man's voice ordered from outside of the circle. Wufei changed his weight to see that it was actually Nadir Renada standing before him. 

His face grew into a scowl as he glared the object of his malice. "Come and get her." Wufei shifted his feet so he stood in a fighting stance.

Nadir glanced around at the soldiers around him and plainly said," Okay." He walked forward purposefully, plucked the limp Hannah, and flicked Wufei between his eyes right on the mark that had been left by the disk before. The blonde soldier the swiftly exited the circle and wasped down the hallway. "Someone remove his earpiece so he can't warn the others." (The Fairy wanted him to say "Someone remove his pants...etc.", but upon further thought, we decided to go with earpiece.)

*** 

"QUATRE?!" Duo shouted hysterically into his earphone at his fellow pilot as he and Trinity raced down the hall to who knows where in the base. Where ever it was, it was as far away from the soldiers as they could possibly get.

WHAT?" The blonde one yelled back, equally as loud into everyone's ears. He was having a hard enough time trying to direct Heero and Trowa out of the base without Trinity to guide them and the problem that he was having communicating with Wufei was causing him much strife.

"We need help! How the heck are we going to get out of here? Is there another exit?" Duo shrieked back as they turned another random corner to avoid another group of marching soldiers that were heading their way, guns in hand.

"Well, yes. We could pick you guys up in space. You need to get suits and go out one of the shuttle doors." Quatre informed them, coping very well with the situation at hand as his voice was now less strained.

"Okay! I know where to go from here!" Trinity yelled as she recognized the general area and pulled Duo down the hall. The next door on the left she knew wouldn't take them anywhere but the men's bathroom, but the one on the right was the correct way to go from where they were at. Her fingers punched in the code to open the door and the metallic barrier slide open quickly as they slipped in.

Duo started opening the random lockers that surrounded the room and tossed Trinity one of the suits and a helmet. He flung the tight, navy space suit on over his black outfit, the sides of his puffy pants showing in lumps down the sides. "These things smell to high heaven!"

"Shut up and put the suit on! It's not going to take them very long to figure out where we went," Trinity ordered in a very motherly tone as she flung her suit right after flinging off her backpack. She ran over to Duo's side and dragged him by his braid over towards the docking door that lead out into space.

"If I just had my god damn Gundam, we could get out of this thing so much easier!" Duo swore as he glanced into space quickly before attempting to find the panel to open up the door.

Trinity blinked, her black eyelashes closing and opening ever so slowly over her brown eyes as she took in what he had just said. Something clicked in her head as the information became real to her. "Gundam?" She slowly turned to face Duo. He suddenly seemed very distant from her. 

It was Duo's turn to blink as he slowly turned towards her. "I mean..."

"You're the pilot with the funny band-aid on your nose band-aid on your nose that got captured at Barge aren't you?!" His face had seemed slightly familiar to her before, but now she understood why. He was one of the five Gundam pilots that the recent one year war had centered around; she had been completely clueless.

"What's so funny about the band-aid? My nose was broken!" It was the completely wrong time to get defensive on the subject so naturally Duo did just that. He rubbed his nose with the memory of the time he had spent before and at Barge. "And so you've never lied about anything big in your life!"

Trinity responded to his comment with a completely blank stare.

Just then, a big group of soldiers waltzed in through the door. They decided it would be a good idea to shoot at Duo and Trinity. (Where would they get that great idea?) Not liking it very much, the two hid behind the row of lockers which offered very little protection as they weren't a full human height. Fearing that wouldn't work for long, Duo stood up above and started shooting at as many people he could hit. 

Trinity was still too frozen with fear to do anything. They are right there and I am right here. This is so not cool. Regaining composure, though still scared stiff, she got up and started wasting bullets against the inevitable. (Well, there's an unexpected twist, bummer).

Just then a well-aimed bullet smashed through Duo's helmet, throwing glass everywhere. The fragments flew all over the floor, and the Gundam pilot dropped the now useless helmet onto the ground were it rolled to a stop near Trinity's feet. For just a second, she glanced down and looked into the jagged opening.

"Cease fire!!" The voice of Nadir Renada caused Trinity's head to shift up to gaze over the lockers at her step-brother who now stood like a wall in front of the door. The fire stopped immediately and Nadir walked in with Hannah slung over his shoulder.

"I don't feel loved here!" Hannah yelled from Nadir's shoulder. She was now very conscious and ready to kick some random ass of the man that was carrying her around the base. Being confused was one thing, but being confused and carried around on the shoulder of another stranger was completely different. Though, she was glad she didn't have to walk anywhere; she had the worst headache and couldn't really remember much of what was going on.

Nadir growled as he glared at the blond on his shoulder; she had been kicking him all the way here once she had woken up. "Shut up right now! Do you even know who you are talking to?!"

"Let her go, Nadir," Trinity's voice rang from the other side of the lockers where she was hiding, her full body crouched down so that he couldn't see any part of her. Her voice sounded much more brave than she felt at the moment. Her heart felt as if it was going to jump from her chest.

A sort of cold snicker flooded into the room as Nadir's free arm reached for his gun. "The mouse doesn't tell the cat what to do with it after it's caught."

"Okay.."Trinity blinked. Her whole body as shaking uncontrollably from where she sat on the concrete floor; her eyes scanned the area for any means of escape and landed on the form beside her. Duo, no, the Gundam pilot's eyes gleamed with anger as he balled his fists over and over again as if trying to fight back an struggle with himself.

He's not smiling, Trinity mused; time around had seemed to stop. He had been smiling before, even when the soldiers were shooting at us, what's different now? A bullet blasted through the metal lockers right between the two, bringing Trinity out of her dream world. Her eyes slowly blinked as Duo's head whipped around to look at her, cobalt looking in with brown. They were still filled with rage.

Why is he looking at me like that? Trinity's blood ran cold as she returned his stare, aghast about what was going on. She watched silently as his eyes lowered, and he fumbled around with his gun, trying to put in a new cartage of bullets before they began shooting again.

"You need to live," her thoughts had been verbalized accidentally as she whispered under her breath. "The Gundam pilots will take care of Nadir and this war. It's not my place." Duo's eyes snapped up from his weapon as she spoke, but their eyes didn't meet as Trinity was sweeping the floor with her eyes as she searched for the unbroken helmet.

It was down by her right foot.

As if in slow motion, Duo watched the brunette lean down and pluck the helmet from the floor where it lay amongst the broken glass of the other. He knew that she had to of moved very fast as there wasn't any time to even think about stopping her, let alone stop her completely, and suddenly the helmet was locked securely around his head and the gun was grabbed from his hand.

"Give Nadir a beating for me, Duo." Trinity shoved him by his shoulders towards the large space doors that stood directly to their right; her hand raised the gun up as she shot out from behind the lockers and took aim at the panel on the opposite wall that opened the doors. Her shot rang true and the panel light switched from red to green as the doors flew open, and space's vacuum pulled the occupants towards the door. Duo and Trinity were both lifted off of the ground and went tumbling through the air, Duo only yards before Trinity.

Nadir wasn't going to let his prey get off that easy though, and he too shot at the panel seconds after he realized what Trinity was attempting to accomplish. The other body that had been in the room barely made it out into space before the doors clamped shut with a large crash; Trinity ran straight into them and fell dully to the floor, shocked and confused at what had just happened. She had planned on dying in the oxygen less regions of space, but the pain in her body from landing on the floor told her that she was very much alive.

" I finally have you." The blonde psychopath leaned over his step-sister who lay crumpled on the floor, gazing up at him with horror and hatred. "Welcome home."

Hannah's blonde form that lay draped over Nadir's back started thrashing and kicking in a vain attempt to free herself form his grasp. "If you do anything to her, I'll do something...really, really bad! If I just had my change sock than none of this would have happened! I don't even know how I ended up like this in the first place!! Not feelin' the love!!"

Trinity smiled weakly at Hannah's complaining voice and stiffly straightened up to look Nadir in the eye. "You really don't look very good in that blue. You really should ask for a change of uniform, don't you agree, Hannah?" She let her fist fly right into his face without a thought about it.

The punch crashed into his jaw, but only threw his face slightly to the side before he returned the blow ten fold back in Trinity's face; the brunette's limp body flew onto the concrete floor and skid to a halt as she crashed into the side of some lockers.

One of her brown eyes opened to look towards Nadir through the haze as she ridiculed,"That was absolutely NOTHING compared to Hannah's change sock, sir. It's called push-ups. Try 'em sometime." Her world slowly folded into blackness.

***


	10. The Trial

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Ten 

"The Trial"

By Magic and the Little Fairy From Nam

Hannah woke up in shackles, in a dark room, without her Silence Glaive. Those were the first three strikes of the day, and by the fact that the room was almost pitch black, she was sure that more would be sure to follow right behind those. She attempted to straighten out her back because she was getting a very large cramp in her side, but the shackles held her tightly in place. She couldn't move a muscle; not only that, but her feet were asleep. No one likes it when their feet are asleep. That was the fourth strike of the day, and Hannah couldn't take anymore, especially after she was just starting to remember what had happened earlier.

The blonde released a scream like no other. The two other sets of eardrums in the room seemed to almost burst on the impact of the loud sound wave as it crashed through out the room.

"She's in her too? This is injustice!!!" Wufei screamed loudly as he threw his head back; he was in the almost same predicament as Hannah was. That, and he couldn't believe that he had been placed in the same room as the Devil Girl. He grit his teeth as he tried to think of a way to escape as soon as possible. He had been awake for awhile and had sat in the dark, thinking that he was been the only other in the room, but the scream had proven wrong.

He was now in a very fowl mood. (His ponytail was out and he had not hair gel. That has got to be a scary sight.) It wasn't helped by the fact that the bullet wound through his left hand stung and throbbed as if his hand were going to fall off his arm at any moment; the sharp nerve signals pounded up his left arm and even into his shoulder as the sharp pain cursed throughout his left side.

"Yeah, I'm sure it is," Trinity retorted quietly in remark to both Hannah and Wufei's screams of ranting. She felt nervous in this situation and knew that it wasn't going to be long before everything that she had attempted to hide came out into the open. Her past was starting to catch up to her faster than she was ready for; Trinity didn't want to be thrust into reality just yet.

There WAS one thing that was going to keep Trinity from being silent though: the awkward silence that had enveloped the room seemed to be spreading and was sending chills down her spine. She felt as if the others had already left her; as if they already knew her secret which she had tried to keep from them. 

"So," Trinity started, her voice starting out very quiet and meek, but slowly gaining it's strength as she convinced herself there wasn't anyway for them to know about anything just yet, "how did you get caught in here, being a Gundam Pilot and all?" Her question had obviously been directed at Wufei wherever he was in the darkness, but Hannah's ears also snapped at the question; the fact that he was a pilot hadn't been declared to her until then.

"They shot my hand as I was trying to run down the hall and then caught up with me. It isn't very easy to escape while you're carrying 'that' sack of rocks on your shoulder," Wufei growled the last part of his statement out in reference to the blonde in the room.

"Shut up about that! Don't you dare call me a sack of rocks ever again, you male pig!" Hannah's shackles rattled from over across the room from Trinity as the blonde tried to break free of her bondage. "Not only did you get the two of us captured, but you lied to us all along about being a-a--a GUNDAM PILOT!? Don't you think that is the kind of thing that the people around you should know about. Especially the ones that you are fighting with and asking them to risk their lives on missions that don't even have ANYTHING to do with the them to begin with!!" Hannah growled through clenched teeth, "I don't CARE what your reasons are! You lied to me, WUFAGOT!" (Just to make it perfectly clear, I have nothing against homosexuals or anything like that. The name is purely a form of Hannah's character and the product of late night writing and lots of sugar. Take no offense.)

"What did you call me!!!???" Wufei bellowed in the blonde's general direction.

"You heard me, Wufagot!" The blonde returned.

Trinity's laughter on the matter erupted from over on her wall as tears poured from her eyes; they were in a dire position and still fighting. "That is" laughter "the funniest name" fit of giggles "that I have EVER heard in my life!" She left a slight pause in there for good measure, then screamed,"Wufagot!" 

Wufei, knowing a losing battle when he saw one, decided just to give up and shut up after he mumbled," I hope they kill you guys soon."

"I still don't feel loved here!!" Hannah yelled. "I really need to gain some weight. I can't believe that the psycho guy just hefted me up and carried me on his shoulder all the way to Trinity. I WILL BE A SUMO WRESTLER SOME DAY!! But right now, I need some CAFFEINE!!!"

"You're stuck to the wall, dear," Trinity tried to be blunt and clear it up for her that caffeine or even a bathroom break was probably out of the question.

Hannah retorted right back at Trinity's blunt tone with, "Yeah, well, I'm still not a morning person or a waking up from unconscious person. Just wait until I get off this wall. There is going to be hell to pay." 

"Not only that, but I don't even think that we got what we came for, did we?" Trinity asked, her voice mocking as she turned toward where she believed Wufei was attached to the wall.

"Botched your mission?" Hannah inquired, her head turning to face the same direction.

"I didn't botch my mission! I got shot in the hand. Anyone normal human being would have dropped that disk. If I do believe anyway, Trinity plucked it off the ground after the fact, so it's not like we didn't get it away," Wufei wasn't in the mood for arguing or being ridiculed by these two childish girls any longer.

"And you don't think that they searched me before they put me in here?" Trinity asked sweetly; he of all people should know that they didn't just stick prisoners into cells without taking away all of their belongings. 

Silence just sounded throughout the room for a couple of seconds as Wufei realized what the brunette was getting at; the mission must have been a failure. On top of that as well, the three of them had been captured. Wufei's black eyes widened slightly as he remembered who Trinity truly was and wondered what they were planning on doing with the trio.

"Then you botched your mission. But guess who didn't?" Trinity was going to let herself feel like she was on top for as long as humanly possible. When she felt like the dramatic pause had been long enough, she laughed slightly and revealed to the two,"I stuck it in Duo's hand right before I shoved him off into space. So, unless Duo is completely inept and dropped the disk out into the vast regions of space, it's a good bet that the others have whatever in the world you five came to get in the first place."

Wufei snorted slightly; the two girls in the room weren't sure whether it was a laugh or a mocking noise, but the two were quiet amazed by his next comment. "The woman did something right for a change."

"Shut up with the womanizing crap, you egomaniacal skitz!" Hannah demanded. The comment hadn't been good enough for her and she had noticed the mocking tone to his voice as he drawled it out slowly. "Aurora saved your ass and got the information out. On top of that, she took a hit from the crazy dude and didn't pass out." Then she thought about it. "Well, at least not immediately."

Psycho man walked through the door right at the moment with impeccable timing on his part. (It wasn't a pretty door. It didn't have pictures on both sides. It was big, heavy and death (black)). The light from the hallway spread in through the door, and the three room mates squinted as the light splashed onto their faces. He stood there, his body outlined by the glaring lights, and whasped a bit for good measure.

"I want my Silence Glaive back, Psycho Man!!" Hannah yelled frantically at Nadir, her shackles ratting loudly on the wall as she struggled to free herself vainly. "P.S. Your breath stinks!"

"That doesn't sound like a very good plan if I do say so myself. I have no intention of returning your weapons, besides just one." He turned to look at his step-sister and greeted frostily," Hello, Trinity."

"Trinity?! Her name is Aurora you idiot psycho man!" Hannah informed as Trinity's blood stopped flowing in her veins. This was it, she realized. Everything was going to be revealed now and there was no way for her to stop it; not now, not ever.

Nadir raised an eyebrow in complete amusement. "Is that what she told you? Well, well, well, Trinity. You surely have made a home for yourself with these people haven't you. I mean, how ironic that you just escape me and then fall into the hands of my enemies and an annoying little girl. Wow, you do work fast to create a new life. Did you just forget about me and your other family, Trinity?" He turned once again to Hannah. "Her name, my dear Miss Date, is in truth Trinity Renada, charged with the murder of her mother and step-father in cold blood."

Hannah's light blue eyes shot from Nadir's form over to Trinity's; her friend's head hung in down as her brown eyes bore into the floor, her short brown hair covering most of her face. Even so, her shame was clear all over her body features as she sagged against the shackles, no longer holding up her own weight.

"It's true, isn't it, Aur.....Trinity," Hannah hissed out the last word, and she too lowered her eyes to the ground. "Well, this has been and informing day. What next? Is Psyco Dude over there your great grandfather, eh?"

"Actually, I'm her step-brother," Nadir added in as a matter-of-fact.

Hannah's blood was starting to boil. "And is Wufei a circus preformer as well as a pilot?"

"No." Wufei turned to face Hannah in order to see her reaction. "That would be Trowa."

"And I'm a big piece of cinnamon-sugar toast. I was born on Pluto and am really a international spy trying to capture all Economics books and burn them. Of course. Now that we all finally have revealed our secrets to each other, lets beat The Brunette!" A vein on Hannah's forehead looked as if it was about to burst as the pressure skyrocketed. 

"With pleasure of course. I just need to borrow her for a little bit, but after I bring her back, feel free," Nadir commented as he motioned to the guards who walked into the room and unchained Trinity. They led her out the door between the two of them as the door swung shut behind them.

Silence came again to the two still left in the room. Eventually, Hannah turned towards Wufei and very quietly asked, "You knew, didn't you? You weren't surprised at all."

"Yes. The five of us knew."

"Remind me to beat you thoroughly as well if we ever get out of this." Even with her threats, Hannah was still worried about what was happening to her friend newly named Trinity Renada.

***

Nadir turned to Trinity as he walked besides him down the long white halls of the base. "We are going to the trial of the murder of your parents. You created quite a riot with those murders and then that great disappearing act. Everyone wants to see the guilty person brought to justice."

"So do I," Trinity spat; she didn't even want to talk to him about anything. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing to talk about. It was all that she could do not to deck him again in the face (that, and the throbbing pain she still had in the side of her own face).

"Guards. Leave us," Nadir growled to the man at his side, who quickly exited through the nearest door. He lifted his gun to rest on Trinity's temple so that she wouldn't try to run away or do anything fishy. It was time for a little one on one chat with his step-sister.

Trinity wasn't going to let him be the first to speak though. The past had caught up with her, that was for sure, but she wasn't going to just stand there and take it. "You killed them, Nadir. Since I'm quite sure you're not the one going on trial, I'm pretty sure it's me. Whoa, you're more of a psychopath than I first thought. I've heard what you're feeding to the people, what you're saying about me. I did NOTHING. It was all you. Do you expect me to admit to this? I'd rather do math for the rest of my life non-stop and eat asparagus for every meal."

"Oh, but I saw you. You must have hit you head with the brick when you jumped off that cliff. I recall everything so clearly. It was so very scarring to see my younger, loving sister to preform such vial acts of murder," Nadir ground the nozzle of the gun into her head. "The murderer WILL admit to the crime. Justice will be had. Prepare yourself for damnation, or your little friend with the penchant for sharp pointy objects in there wont ever get her morning caffeine again."

This is not the way I would have planned out happy little family reunion, but I'll just have to try to look on the bright side---if there is one, Trinity thought to herself sarcastically. "You're twisted now. What the hell happened to you durin-- " She was cut off by the doors to the court room being opened. The large wooden doors clanged against the metal walls and sent the vibrations through the floor and into her body. She had no idea what she was going to do about this situation, but there didn't seem to be any escape.

The guards on the sides of the door grabbed Trinity's arms and lead her up to the judge. She received glares by most of the people there. Looks like they already know that I'm 'guilty'. There wasn't a kind face in the crowd; her hair stood on end.

The verdict seemed to have already been given: Guilty as charged.

Trinity found herself melting under the ruthless gaze of the judge. In one hand she held her own life and in the other she held Hannah's. She looked down at her shoes and tried to melt into the black leather and disappear off the face of the Earth, but it didn't work too well. Funny, she thought to herself, this is the same outfit I was wearing when Nadir killed my parents, I bet Nadir thinks I don't change clothes ever. This caused Trinity to smile, slightly, only on the inside. She looked up at the judge as she began to speak.

"You are Trinity Renada, yes? Please state your name for the jury."

"Trinity Renada." Her voice shook terribly as the color in her face left.

"What is your plead?"

"Plead?"

"Did you or did you not kill your mother and step-father? Hurry it up." The old lady gazed down at Trinity as if she was some sort of bug that needed to be squashed as soon as possible.

She froze. The world began to become faint and blurred around the edges. She put all of her weight on the soldiers and let them hold her up. She felt the stares of everyone in the room burning into her back, causing her to be pushed farther to the ground. She looked up from her shoes and right into Nadir's eyes. He was grinning like she had never seen him grin before. He looked like the happy boy that had been her only companion when she was little. How could he?! Trinity felt the question burn into her mind. How could he put me threw all of this pain? How could he kill the only people that ever loved me?

She felt a very unwanted tear fall down her check as his cold stare answered her question.

"I plead--I plead." Everyone in the court room leaned forward to hear her soft voice. It sounded empty and dull in the small base court room as she looked around at the crowd, the judge, everywhere but Nadir.

"Guilty."  
***

Duo Maxwell shut off the television on the space craft as the adds for a new triple decker burger started to roll with a middle aged man dancing around in a fry suit. In his hand, he held the disk that Trinity had put there. He hadn't even noticed that she had done so at the time, but there it was. Right in his hand. 

"What are we going to do, Heero?" Quatre inquired as Heero walked over towards Duo and pulled the disk out of his hand.

The pilot seemed to be deep in thought for a couple of seconds before stating. "We know that she's not guilty. We've seen the tapes on the security cameras in her house that night and know exactly what happened. She's only doing this, my guess, to save Hannah. We have found Nadir and now our cover is blown so there is not really any reason for us to go back and save the two."

Quatre's eyes widened as he swiftly stood up from his chair. " Do you really mean that, Heero?" He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"You didn't let me finish, Quatre," Heero began to add. "The two helped us out on the mission, and Trinity even risked her life to get the data that we hold now. They also hold Wufei, so my intuition tells me that we need to go and pick them up. As long as there are no objections?"

Duo stuffed his hands into his pants and just slowly nodded. "Let's go bring them back. Hannah's not going to be very happy. It's been almost 42 hours since her last dose of caffeine. I wonder if Wufei is even still alive?" He smirked as he turned on his heels and waltzed towards the head of the ship.

Quatre hid a slight smile behind his hand as he thanked everything in the world for giving Duo a good sense of humor. He nodded to Heero and Trowa, who in turn nodded back. It was time to go retrieve the goods.

***

She was floating. The world around her couldn't see her as she walked down the hall of her old mansion. The ball room was filled with people that were there to celebrate the end of the war. Her step-father and mother were dancing together on the dance floor. Trinity had to warn them. Somewhere, somehow she knew that they were in trouble. She looked towards the door and saw her brother there, waiting for the right time, a gun in hand. She ran towards her parents and started screaming, but no one seemed to hear her. Then she saw her brother aim and pull the trigger; two bodies crumpled to the floor in front of her once again.

She screamed in agony as she fell to her knees. Her brother walked towards her carrying her sword and he placed it under her chin. 

"It's all your fault, Trinity. You couldn't save them then and you can't save yourself," he said as he inched the sword closer to herself. 

Suddenly Duo and the other's where in the room and they all stared coldly down at her. Nadir looked up and with her sword killed every single one of her friends.

"Nooo!!!!" she screamed as she watched, helpless to stop him. Then he came to Hannah and Trinity watched her friend fall as Hannah screamed, "TRINITY!!"

"Trinity!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!"

Trinity woke up in the cell with Hannah and Wufei. Hannah was looking worriedly down at her, and Wufei had an unreadable expression on his face. The two had apparently been unshackled and the lights in the cell had been turned on. Trinity slowly sat up, her body wet with sweat from her nightmare and glanced around as she slowly remember what had happened.

"Wah?" Trinity asked, dazed. The dream was so vivid that she had believed that it was real. "But y---yo----you guys are dead," she said uncertainly. "Does that mean I'm dead?"

"No. You are not dead. Let me demonstrate," Hannah told her as she back handed Trinity across the face. "You could have told me you know! I would have understood!!"

"Not now. Please," Trinity pleaded as she placed her head in her hands; the trial was returning to her. She was now labeled as guilty for her mother and step-father's murder. She had received her sentence and then returned to the room where she believed she had passed out from the stress. Then the nightmare had struck. Now she was awake and up to the present time.

"The only good thing about them brining you back was that they unchained us, " Wufei started to say coldly as he sat down on the floor a couple feet behind Hannah.

"And gave us food," Hannah reminded him as if it was the most important thing that happened that day," But I still don't have my MOCHACHINNO!!!!"

In harsh situations, sometimes people are said to go raving mad. Maybe they had been mad to start out with, but Trinity and Hannah met eyes after Hannah's last caffeine demand and bust out into laughter. It was just like the blonde to think about caffeine in a situation and time like this. Food always came around full cycle into every conversation.

Suddenly, Hannah looked towards the door and Trinity followed. The screws on t he door seemed to be coming loose. The two registered what exactly was going to happen, and that it was going to happen very soon, but they decided not to tell Wufei that the door was going to momentarily going to fall on his head, until it was 'too late'.

"Wufei, watch out for that random falling door. " Hannah began to say, but was interrupted by the sound of it cracking his skull as the heavy door slammed him to the ground beneath its great weight. 

"Oops," The figure in the doorway stated as his braid swayed this way and that. Three other shadowed figures stood behind him with a bundle of unconscious soldiers bodies scattered here and there across the hallway floor around their feet. It was a very dramatic entrance on their part; the two girls almost felt like bursting out into applause (but, there was still not random sparkles or breezes to whasp in). 

The four other Gundam pilots entered the cell slowly as they gazed around, taking in everything that was around them.

"Fancy digs ya got here," Duo commented as he scanned the room."Chains and everything." Trowa shrugged and raised an eyebrow as he lifted the door off Wufei and helped him to his feet. 

"I'm so happy we found you three," Quatre said, smiling at the two girls, then at Wufei who had picked himself off the floor by that time.

While the others were busy talking, Trowa walked over to Hannah and handed her Silence Glaive and change sock back to her that she had been carrying in her backpack on the mission. "The love comes flooding back!!!" Hannah yelled as she gave Trowa a small hug. "Here comes hell," she muttered as she advanced on Trinity, only to be stopped by Trowa's outstretched arm. "LET ME AT HER!! Okay, if I can be stopped this easily I really need to gain some weight!"

"I beg to differ?" Trinity asked as she backed against the far wall. As she hit the wall, she heard a small clank behind her and looked down to find her sword lying propped up against the wall. She didn't even think about why it would be in the room with them before she picked it up and stuffed it into her belt; she might as well take it with her since it had been pretty much the start of all this trouble.

"Leaving would be a good idea at this time," Trowa declared to the others in the room as he glanced up and down the hallway. No one had noticed their location quite yet, but it wasn't going to take much time for anyone to figure out what was going on with all of the unconscious bodies strewn around.

The group ran down the hall and towards the elevator at the other end (was it a pretty elevator?--no it wasn't a pretty elevator. Quite ugly, just like the door...anyway--), and they all piled in. They didn't fit all that well as a group of around seven normal sized people usually don't under normal circumstances.

"Duo! Your elbow's in my stomach!"

"Heero, you're on my foot!"

"WUFEI YOU'RE SITTING ON ME!!"

"Auro-Trinity, stop touching my butt!!"

And a grunt. (Always have to have a grunt!).

Finally the doors opened and let them out. Trowa had a small amount of Cluster phobia and was the first to push his way through. "TROWA!" Everyone yelled as he stepped on their feet; no one had expect him to react in that way.

They were in another long hall lined with many doors. Heero seemed to know where he was going so everyone decided to follow him. Nobody knew if he knew where he was going, but they just assumed and trudged behind. A couple of halls and doors later, Heero walked up to a door. He opened the door and looked in. It seems he found the top-secret, nobody-is -supposed-to-know- about, super-important, janitors closet.

"Hey Heero! I thought you knew where you were going!" Duo said, hands on hips. It was just natural for everyone to tag along after him as he usually ended up leading them off to where ever in the first place, he might as well lead them back.

"You always depend on me. You do have a brain floating somewhere in that mess of hair. Why don't you get to know it a little," Heero muttered, still having the look of death in his eyes. He really wanted to kill something now. He was never wrong and never took crap from pilot 02 unless the times where dire. The times may be slightly tense, but he was getting very short on his nerve strings at the moment.

"Ouch. Heero, that hurt right here." Duo retorted, pointing to his heart. Maybe Duo was feeling a little bit masochistic, but he was egging Heero on. 

"I can make it hurt right there, if that's what you want." Heero declared, having a sense of deja-vu, as he lifted his gun up in Point blank shooting range of Duo's heart. His last nerve had been shattered by his braided companion yet again.

"You're really gonna shoot me, aren't ya?" Duo said, also feeling the deja-vu spreading through out the hallway.

Quatre, walking between Duo and Heero, told the two," We shouldn't be fighting at all!" And there goes deja -vu, all over again. All five of the pilots stood around for a couple of seconds, trying to remember where and what time period it actually was because the dialog that had just taken place was confusing their senses.

Trowa suggested, as he pulled a map out of his pocket. "Why don't we just use this map to get around?" He had cleverly drawn it after they had escaped from the base the first time from his memory; everything was in perfect order and he had even used a straight edge when making the walls.

Heero lowered his gun reluctantly and went over to look at the map while Duo was left to sigh with relief and try to make himself shut up. He usually wouldn't even try to egg Heero on, but seeing Nadir earlier that day had done something to his nerves as well and he wasn't in the best of moods. He felt as if they were wasting there time just standing around here and should go after the commander right now since they had confirmed his position on the base.

Trowa started to walk the opposite way of that in which they had come. Everyone decided to follow his instead of Heero because Heero really wanted to kill someone and Trowa did have a map. They finally ended up in front of another large door, and the banged pilot informed,"This is the hanger where we left our ship."

"Already here? But we didn't even see any big explosions on the way?" Hannah pouted slightly as she had been hoping for at least one random locked door that they would have to blast down with a grenade. 

"Psychotic woman." Wufei growled, walking slightly faster than normal past both of the girls and into the hanger. Apparently he had spent a little too much quality time with the two. 

It's this psychotic woman who can beat your pathetic behind. Hannah thought, already plotting revenge for two people as she too entered the hanger quickly after the Chinese pilot.

After they had all quickly boarded their ship, Heero flung himself at the controls at the warning shout from Trowa: enemy soldiers were quickly filing into the hanger.

"Guys, to the guns," Heero said as all of the guys left the room, besides Wufei who still hadn't recovered from the door. "Trinity, you pilot!" Heero yelled from the other room.

"Okay, " Hannah responded and muttered," we're all gonna die." The blonde turned towards Duo as the braided one reentered the room.

"Heero rethought that and he wants you to man the missiles now so that I can pilot," Duo pointed to the blonde down the hall as he took his seat in the pilots chair.

"Great," Hannah grumbled as she left the room, "we're all going to die, only not quite as fast." She left the room quickly before the pilot could respond to her comment.

Duo drove the ship through the seemingly endless amounts of mobile suits. Explosions littered the sky as the four guys and Hannah, who was having a little too much fun, let loose. It was only a short amount of time until the ship reached deep space; it was much faster than the mobile suits and out ran them with little problem. It was then that a very awkward silence opened in the room. 

"So, uh, Duo..." Trinity attempted but failed at conversation as the braided pilot just turned his back to her, his braid swinging over the chair as he flipped the auto-pilot switch on and leaned back. 

"Fine! I get the picture here! I'll just have a nice little conversation with myself!" Trinity said as she plopped down into the nearest chair. "Do you forgive me, Aurora? Yes, I do, Trinity. How could I stay mad at such a pretty, wonderful, smart, intelligent, gorgeous, nice. . . . . . . " Trinity listened to her own voice drown on as she didn't really pay any attention to what she was going on about. After awhile, her voice just died out, and she let the silence be heard.

***


	11. Attack of the Authoresses

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Eleven

"Attack of the Authoresses"

By Magic and the Little Fairy From Nam

  


Trinity was getting very tired of just sitting there. There was only so many things that one could do in a dorm room in the middle of the night, especially when there was no way that she could get through the door. She wasn't quite sure why she couldn't get through the door, but there was a very distinct solidity of the door that made her feel as if there was no way of even attempting to get out of the room. That, and she figured she had probably noticed that there was no doorknob anywhere to be seen. The door wasn't very pretty anyway; who wants to deal with an ugly door? 

She glanced around the room a few times; everything seemed to be in place, just as she and Hannah had left it before they had gone off on the mission. 

Ah yes, the mission, Trinity mused to herself as she continued to peruse the room with her eyes, I remember now. We were captured...and then...Nadir was there and put me on trial...we were rescued...and then....

Trinity stood up from where she had been sitting on the bed and glanced out the window to see a giant stuffed bunny trudging through the parking lot, but she took no mind to it as she was attempting to figure out what had happened after she had pleaded guilty.

"Hannah and Wufei found who I really am because...because...of course! They were in the same room as I had been. Yes, yes, that was it." She paused yet again and began to tap her forehead with her index finger while trying to pull the memory out from whatever box she had left it in.

She snapped her fingers. "That's it!" Trinity continued to speak to herself as she began pacing through the room. "And then the rest of the guys rescued us, and we followed Heero but he didn't know where he was going, and then there was the elevator, and then we finally found the ship, and took off into space, but they wouldn't talk to me and so I started to speak with myself and I started to watch the stars go by, and..." The brunette took in a long, deep breath to get her oxygen count back up to par. It was when she was huffing and puffing when she realized that she hadn't a clue what had happened on the ride home or even how she had gotten to her and Hannah's dorm room.

"Erm....uh...." 

That was when Hannah walked through the door. Her expression was that of fuming mad to the point where not even the sweet taste of white chocolate mousse soft serve ice cream and oreos would make her cool off. Trinity had faced many deadly situations before this, but she was almost certain that if she didn't make for the window quickly, there wasn't going to be anyway that she could make it out of this alive. 

"Hannah....now..think rationally on this one! I really meant to tell you everything, it was just that I wasn't sure if you would like me...I mean...I know I really should have said at least something...like," Hannah was slowly creeping up closer and closer to her, "'hey! Hannah! I have a psychopathic step-brother bent on world domination and making my life miserable!' Would that have done the job?"

Thump! "You lying, conniving, something....really...really bad! How could you!"

The hollow sound of Trinity's head being rammed against the green, dorm wall resounded throughout the room. Trinity flung herself to her feet just in time to avoid being clobbered by her friends change sock, when five other forms appeared behind. One of the forms pulled Hannah (with mild success and much bruising) off of her friend who had just began cowering in the corner.

"I didn't mean anything by not telling you all!"Trinity screamed with all of her might at the boys and Hannah who were all staring at her with their arms crossed tightly across their chests, with the exception of Trowa who was still holding back the lethal blonde from getting at the brunette. Trinity's mouth suddenly seemed to get smaller and smaller as she quietly mumbled, "I really meant to tell you all when everything was over...I did. I swear." Trinity realized that she was staring at her feet now instead of the crowd in front of her; oh well, she found it easier to gaze at her toes than the six pares of eyes.

"Not that I didn't expect this to happen. Stupid girl," Wufagot hissed out at Trinity as he pointed a confusing finger at her. Then he blinked for one slow second before realizing that his name had been cruelly changed to his dreaded nickname, not only in dialog, but also in the context of the paragraph.

"What the hell did you do to my name, you wacks!!??" Wufei screamed towards the ceiling. 

Trinity's eyes crossed for a second as she was trying to realize what in the world was going on. "Wufei..." She started timidly, "who...in the world...are you yelling at?" She scratched her head as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Oh, you didn't like that?" A booming voice that could only be known was that of one of the authoresses came down from somewhere among the heavens (or maybe the dorm room just above them. One never knows for sure with these mysterious miracles). 

A blood vessel on top of Wufei's forehead started to pop out as his anger increased. "This is. . . . . "

"INJUSTICE!!" Screamed the first god-like voice, accompanied this time by yet another.

"I was going to say. . . " Wufaggot began to stammer. 

"INJUSTICE!!!" Shrieked the duet once again. 

"CHANGE MY NAME BACK THIS INSTANT YOU NUT CASES!!"

There was a slight pause before the two voices erupted in laughter. Everyone on the lower floor covered their ears as the pain from their cackling became more intense as the laughing got louder.

"Is 'nut cases' the best you can do?" One of the voices inquired in the midst of the others laughter.

  
  


"What about something like 'mouth-fart'?" The other put in as the laughter around the seven below decreased.

"Yes, yes! Or butt-burp!" The other chimed in.

A large sweat drop appeared on Wufei's head as he realized what the two were saying. "I can't believe this is what we have to put up with..."

Wufei suddenly took a great running leap into the closest wall and slammed into it with all of his force. From the great impact, he fell directly onto his rear end and bruised it severely all over for the rest of his days.

"WHY WAS THAT FOR?!" He screamed up at the ceiling while rubbing his soar tookus. 

More insane laughter was heard from above the cast as the two authoresses yelled down at them all, "We've got the power!! Remember it or pay the consequences."

"How do you spell 'consequences'?" One of them asked the other out of the blue as the group below blinked.

There was a moments pause before the other replied, "You really are at the third grade spelling level...aren't you?"

"BE QUIET! It's not my fault for just being...being..."

"Special."

"That works."

"Okay. . . " Trinity said, looking up towards the sky where the voices came from. She wasn't sure what was going on and wasn't really sure how she had arrived in this odd situation. Upon glancing over at the group, she found it amusing to find Heero attempting to glare at the authoresses, but it wasn't possible even for the 'Perfect Pilot' to find someone to glare at who didn't even exist. One has to cut him some slack once and awhile.

"YOU CAN DANCE YOU CAN DIE!! HAVING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE!!" The off key singing rang painfully through the small dorm room as it hit the others ears like a staple gun to the head. "Sorry we're listing to "Dancing Queen", which we don't own in any way, and we just had toast with lots of sugar and cinnamon." Evil laughter ensued as lightening and thunder boomed outside the window in the night sky.

"You're not going to make us do anything psycho are you?" Duo asked, worriedly; he being of the slower type (as well as the Mr. Obvious genre) had just realized that the two authoresses had complete control over the keyboard, the story, and a lot of sugar at their disposal. That was about as good a combination as a man with a lightening rod standing in the middle of the public pool.

"Not unless you want us to make you do something really, really funny...or mean...or scarring..." One informed.

It wasn't long before the other one broke the promise though and screamed out the command, "Heero! Kiss Duo!"

"Nuuuuuuuuuuu!" The other authoress screamed.

"Just a joke!!! Don't freak out!"

The two authoresses suddenly realized that the command had been executed.

"Make them stop or I'll have Quatre kiss Trowa, and that'll really mess up the relationships in the story!" The other one threatened. 

"Yes'm!"

Everything returned to normal as the two pilots unlocked lips; Quatre and Trowa whispered silent prayers as Wufei, Hannah, and Trinity starred in absolute horror at the Duo and Heero. Trinity was wondering when everything was going to just end, and someone was going to put them out of their misery. 

"You're not going to hold that against me, Heero, are you?" Duo inquired as he started to back away form the spandex boy before his fellow pilot lost a fuse.

Heero was too busy attempting to find someway to get at the authoresses that he didn't even take notice of Duo's comment. The braided one gave a quick silent thanks to his luck as a pilot, about the exact time when his luck ran out and the blonde Relena came flying into the room. Her open hand caught Duo across the face as she slapped him with all of her might and his head went spinning around, followed by his braid.

Relena was fuming when she finally landed on the floor after her quick flight through the wall. "You kissed Heero!"

"It's not my fault!" Duo defended as his hand went to his burning cheek.

The great sounds of hysterical laughter could be heard from up above as it seemed the authoresses were rolling around on the floor convulsing with rapture and joy. 

"Now this is entertainment!!" Hannah declared as she also burst into laughter.

One of the authoresses seemed to agree as well. "Duo and Relena death match!"

Relena again advanced on Braidy-Boy as a cat stealthily comes up behind a mouse. Taken back by one of his most despised nicknames all of a sudden popping up into the story, Relena was given the distraction that she needed. She reached out and before he could move, grabbed his braid, and spun his around by it, letting go at the last second so he collided full force with the nearest wall.

"That's IT! No one touches the hair!" He removed a gun from his left pocket (where else? The puffy pants!)and aimed it directly at her face.

"HEERO!"Relena bellowed louder than was necessary since the pilot was standing directly to her left. He winced as his name came flooding into his eardrum and resonated throughout his entire body.

"Freeze!" One of the authoresses ordered from on high. "We haven't even done anything to our main characters!" Hannah and Trinity started to sweat as they realized they were the next victim. They didn't even want to know what was going to be in store for them.

"Oo-oo! I know!" The other one piped in. "We could turn the two of them into a food! Yeah, yeah! Like...something....giggly!"

"And smelly!"

"And-" The two continued to add onto the list as Trinity was attempting to form the words in her mouth. It was very hard to even find them at first as talking when one is on pause wasn't just a simple matter of spitting it out. The sentence had to be fully formed before anything could happen and then she had to make sure that she remembered it correctly so that it came out all right in the end.

When she thought she had it she came back into the conversation to here, "Who's first?"

"Trinity!" The other one commanded.

"Trinity!" The second time her name was said didn't exactly sound like either of the authoresses. In fact, it sounded more like Quatre's voice, but that wasn't possible as he was on pause.

"Trinity." There it came again. This time it sounded a lot like Heero, but the brunette was certain that his mouth hadn't moved an inch.

Another voice that sounded a lot like Wufei's came to her ears, "Do you think she'll get out of it every? Stupid girl."

It was then that Trinity decided to scream out her phrase that she had formed to plead for mercy; it was also at that exact moment that her eyes snapped open and she sat up straight as she belted out, "SPARE ME, PLEASE!!"

Blank stares were reflected back at her as Trinity looked around at the six others gazing down at her. Still delirious from her nightmareish dream, she grabbed Duo's shirt with both of her hands and whispered in a small, scared voice, "I don't wanna be turned into anything giggly and smelly!"

Duo attempted to pry her hands off his shirt as he told her, "I'll remember that when Hannah attempts to cook you in a pot." He motioned over to the blonde whose eyes were narrowed at Trinity's form.

It was then when Trinity figured out that she was lying on a double bed in some random hotel room; her sword was sitting over on the chair in the corner, and everyone was gazing down at her as they stood around or leaned on the bed to get a better look at her.

"It was just a dream," Trinity sighed with relief as she flopped back down onto the pillow and let her tense muscles relax after a few seconds of slow breathing.

"Not ALL of it was a dream," Hannah growled, not knowing for sure what Trinity thought was a dream. "Trinity Renada."

The brunette looked up at everyone in turn, from Heero to Hannah. Hannah's eyes were narrowed to the point where it almost looked as if the orbs of blue were going to disappear into her eyebrows; the blonds arms where held back by Trowa who was holding her back from probably cooking Trinity into something 'giggly and smelly' at that very moment. Trowa wasn't even looking at the brunette. Quatre seemed to gaze at her with sadness reflected in his eyes and perhaps even a little pity. What really got to Trinity was the jolt that hit home when she met eyes with Duo. It was the same glare that he had given to her at the base during the mission.

"Why do you hate me so much?" She uttered too softly for any of them to hear. "Don't look at me like that..." Her last nerve finally snapped as Trinity leapt towards Hannah and Duo. "Please stop looking at me!!" She couldn't stand to have them see her for who she really was. 

It was her advantage of surprise that enabled her to shove the five gundam pilots and her blond friend out of the door and into, what she saw for a quick flash before quickly slamming the door, the living room of the hotel room.

"I'M SORRY! I'm sorry!" Trinity flicked the lock on the door so that no one could enter. "I'm ...sorry..." She whispered as she slid down the door and onto the floor where she sat and hugged her knees. It was then that her stomach gave a large growl and sounded its anger at not being fed.

"Not now." The brunette grumbled to her organs as she set her head down onto her knees.

***

Wet blonde hair covered parts of his vision as he stared up at the towering hotel building in front of him. So this is were you are, Nadir sneered, snickering slightly aloud to himself. Time to kill two birds with one stone.

This had to be the best day of his life. Being able to get rid of both his sister and the Gundam Pilots at the same time was more than he ever would have asked for. He had smartly planted a tracking device in Trinity sword, knowing that she took it everywhere with her, and had not taken it away when she was in the cell, knowing that in time, the rest of the Gundam pilots would come to rescue, if not her, then the other pilot.

He walked into the building with his large patrol of guards and easily took the unsuspecting people over as he whistled to himself.

"I'm such a genius, you know that! Stupendous really," he said as he turned to face one of his officers with a large, cheesy smile. He was so excited he started to skip up the stairs before he realized that everyone was watching. Best to stay discrete if possible, he mused and beckoned the others to follow him with a forced serious face. 

He continued to whistle "Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chassed the weasel" until one of his officers asked, "Don't you think it would be better if we made as little noise as possible, sir. With all respect I-"

"What do you know? What's the square root of 23,958,462?! Hmmm??" Nadir flung his cape behind him and continued with his way up the stairs. "Yes. That's what I thought. Remember that your superiors always know best, Lancelot. Don't you forget that." He looked down at all of his troops following him. "Do you think we could all start a cannon??" 

***

"Now what?" Quatre whispered to the others as they began to disperse throughout the room, a little shaken by Trinity's recent out burst and being flung from the bedroom. They all shook their heads as they didn't have the slightest clue about what to do, so they tried to make life go back to normal. Well, that is as normal as it had ever been for them.

Duo walked over to a small chair and plopped down onto it with a sigh. He didn't really know what he felt about the whole thing. He knew how he should feel about parts of it but wasn't sure where to place Trinity in with the mix. He hated Nadir; that was a given, but then where did his happy go lucky, weirder than three mimes and a clown talking about poker, sword carrying step-sister who they had all used as a sort of bait fit in his life? It's gotta suck to have Nadir for a brother, Duo admitted to himself as he put his feet up on the table. That much he knew for sure.

Everyone seemed to have settled down for awhile; Quatre had his tea cup in hand and was looking out the window at the rain and city bellow, Trowa was making something that actually smelled edible for a change for super; Wufei was stretching over in the corner and beginning to warm up for his daily routine; Heero was doing something with his laptop, and Hannah was reading fanfics on the Internet as she kicked the wall hard with her foot from time to time (rages directed at Trinity would have to be taken out on the poor, defenseless wall for the time being). Duo stood up and went into the other room to get a magazine to read as he realized that hotel didn't get cable acces.

Just as he had entered the small room next to the bedroom where Trinity had locked herself into, he heard a door open very close to him. Not paying very much attention, he figured that it had been Trinity emerging from the bedroom to get something to eat (she hadn't eaten for about a day or so and it was just logical). He figured wrong.

"Hello, Duo," said Nadirs cool and emotionless voice," long time no see." Nadir paused awhile as Duo's head whipped around to look at Nadir who was standing in the same room as he was by the door that led to the staircase. Did he hear whistling farther down the way?

"How is your little girl friend with the black hair?" Duo's face contorted into a mask of rage as Nadir frostily sneered,"Oh yes, how careless of me. She's dead, isn't she." With the final word Nadir slammed his knee into Duo's stomach and lifted up the cringing Duo by his shirt collar. "Don't scream now. Don't want to disturb the others, do we?" He threw Duo at the wooden chair that had stood in the corner of the small room which caused it to break. Duo screamed out as his head collided full force into the chair and then into the corner of the wall. For a second everything went black, but he forced himself to stay conscious as he sat up in the corner and tried to focus the world.

As Nadir had expected, the other four pilots and Hannah, who hadn't even thought to bring her change sock, scampered quickly into the room without thinking about what they were doing before it was too late.

Nadir swiftly reached out and grabbed Hannah, who was the first to enter the door, by her shirt collar. As the others filled in the door, he rested his gun lightly against her temple and calmly watched the others.

"Why is Psycho man here?!" Hannah asked in dismay as the realization of who and what was going on hit her. "Do you come often to random hotels in this area or what?!"

"Nobody move an inch or the blonde never gets to yell at anyone of you again," Nadir commanded as several of his officers trained guns on the five pilots; the guys knew when their cards had been dealt and this was one of the times. Heero raised his hands over his head first, and the others all followed suit with the exception of Duo who couldn't exactly find the muscles to move any of his limbs.

When the soldiers were busy handcuffing the four boys and Hannah, Nadir picked up Duo once again and ruffly slapped handcuffs on the braided ones wrists as he spun him around and marched him into the living room. Speaking to all of them in general, he demanded, "Where's Trinity?" He scanned the room while spinning Duo around with him. "Come out, come out, where ever you are!"

Trinity, at that moment was reading herself to jump right off the balcony and onto the next balcony right below, figuring that after she escaped, she would find some of the guys' friends somehow and rescue them all, but her fear of heights kept her back one second too long. If she had jumped right when she heard Nadir talking outside, she would never have heard what her step-brother was planning to do; she never would have stopped herself from leaping down; she would have been able to go through with her plan and help them out later. But that's just the way life is sometimes and her muscles tensed and she stopped herself from jumping as she heard her brother's quote.

"If you run away from me Trinity, I will break every single limp of Mr. Maxwell's. Then I'll move on to Miss Date's for some fun after he quits screaming. After that, all of the others will follow until there are no more limbs. But it's better that way because then I can start removing the organs."

Trinity's body became covered in goose bumps that hadn't been there even while she had been crouching out in the cold, pouring rain. She was unable to move forward or backward; it was as if all time had stopped, yet the rain continued to fall.

"If you come out," Nadir informed her, "I will only break Mr. Maxwell's nose as a punishment for screaming earlier."

"Trinity, just RUN!" Hannah shrieked before the guard covered the blonde's mouth roughly with his gloved hand. Hannah clamped down viciously on his finger with her teeth, but the guard didn't respond at all except a very small wince.

The creaking of the door adjacent to the bedroom could be heard in the complete silence, and Trinity stood in the doorway, soaking wet, holding her sword by her side. The dark brown eyes gazed into Nadir's dark blue ones; rain water dripped from her clothing and her hair making soft 'plop'ing sounds on the tile.

"Drop the sword and kick it over towards the soldiers." Trinity did exactly as he told her to do without glancing up away from Nadir for a second.

"That's more like it. Someone, Roy, handcuff her as well." Nadir felt that it was time to deal out punishment so he lifted Duo up so he could face the braided pilot. " I told you not to scream," he uttered cruelly before punching Duo squarely in the face. 

"That's for my men who you killed."

His fist landed right in Duo's face again. Everyone winced as they heard Duo's nose break, but the Brady boy didn't scream this time, but just resigned himself to the pain.

"That's for humiliating me."

Nadir swung his arm back once again. "And this is for--"

"STOP IT, NADIR!"

The blond soldier whirled around to face his step-sister. "What did you say?" He hissed as he dropped Duo to the floor. There wasn't much that Duo could do to catch himself as his hands were still cuffed behind his back; he landed onto the tile with a thunk and a wince as pain leapt into his body via his shoulder. Blood trickled down his nose as it started to swell, and he rolled slightly onto his back so that he could watch what Nadir was doing.

The tall figure stalked towards Trinity purposefully as his left hand reached for his temple. "Do you understand the HEADACHES I get when you're around?! Do you?! Do you understand what it's like to have your brain being torn apart while you're still conscious?!? That's how you make me feel!" He gripped Trinity by her hair and held her close to his face. "What the hell are you?!?! What are you doing to me?!!" He leaned forward, placed his mouth right by her ear, and whispered, "Do you want to feel the pain you put me through?" 

"Not particularly."

He hissed, "I think you do."

With that he slammed Trinity's head into the doorway frame; Trinity's eyes rolled back into her head, and Nadir let her hair slide through his fingers as he allowed her unconscious body to fall to the ground.

"We move out now." Nadir started to rub his temples vigorously. "Someone get me an asprine, and stop that blasted whistling!!" 

***

Trinity woke up in her old room on her bed. She slowly got up and looked around and the familiar surroundings. The brunette slowly got off the bed, so as not to pass out again, and walked towards the bathroom. In the bath tub she saw a little girl taking a bubble bath with a ton of bubbles. She had brown hair that was so long, it continued into the sea of bubbles that had overtaken the large tub. A women was kneeling by her and rinsing her hair out. The little girl seemed to be quite bored with the situation and decided to make it interesting.

She picked up a large handful of bubbles and blew them in the women's face. The women just laughed a warm, calming laugh and returned the bubbles with some of her own. The little girl giggled and smiled, making her babyish cheeks bunch up under her eyes. The mother said something to the girl that Trinity couldn't catch, and turned around to grab the cute girl a towel. 

With a shock, Trinity came face to face with her mother. She looked over to the girl in the bath tub and realized that it was herself. The girl and mother began to fade and all that was left was the childish giggle of the girl, ringing through Trinity's mind. A small bubble floated across the room, and Trinity thinking it was real, reached out to pop it, only to have it disappear before she could come near it.

"Am I dead?" Trinity wondered out loud but soon decided that Nadir probably hadn't killed her by hitting her head against the doorframe. No. He was probably planning a much more extravagant death for her somewhere in the house, but there didn't seem to be anyway around it. Positive that there were guards standing around the outside of the house just waiting for her to try to escape, she opened her door and stepped out into the hallway. 

It was lit dimly by the lights on the sides of the marble walls which cast eerie shadows throughout the long corridor. Her breathe could be seen as it condensed in midair; the heat must have been left off since the day of the murders. Trinity's footsteps sounded like elephants as they were the only sound resonating throughout the house, echoing back at her from all sides and down the hallway. 

She continued to walk unhindered by anyone as there was no one to be seen in the whole house that she could tell. It was all disturbingly quiet and calm. Trinity rubbed her forehead where a rather large bump was forming from it's contact with the doorway.

"Now..."She pondered aloud, "if I were a psychopath, where would I want to murder my step-sister?"

She was just passing the elevator on her left when she realized the answer; it was quite simple and obvious. The old ballroom that no one had used for years would be the perfect spot; high walls and pillars with a gothic ceiling and stained glass windows along the side made it the perfect place for Nadir to want to kill someone as it almost looked like a cathedral. "He's just nuts enough to think it."

Trinity walked over to the elevator and stepped in. She knew she was going the right way because there was a sign inside the elevator that said she was heading the right direction. He had even circled the floor number on the keypad as if she was too stupid to figure anything out on her own. The elevator ride was too short for Trinity's liking. She just wanted to melt into the walls, but it just wasn't going to happen. The elevator's sliding doors opened, and she walked out into the giant hall. 

At the end, she could see five figures tied to the five end pillars. It was easy to figure out who they were, and Trinity began dashing towards the five figures as her steps echoed off the walls and the high ceilings. As she reached the end, a small part of her stomach dropped as she realized there were supposed to be six of her friends at the end, but she could only see five. 

Hannah had a large piece of duct tape slapped over her mouth and her didn't look very happy at all. Wufei, Heero, Trowa, and Quatre were tied to the walls the same as Hannah, although slightly more tight and secure and they had less duct tape then Hannah over their mouths. They all looked up at her when she approached them. She reached to start to untie Hannah, but the blonde started to shake her head vagariously as her eyes widened. Trinity didn't know what it was about, but she was about to be answered.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," a cool voice said from behind her.

"And why not, Nadir? Are you afraid she's going to beat you up? Don't even think about it. I'm not going to fight you." Trinity said not turning to face her brother as she continued to struggle with Hannah's tight bindings. "And where's Duo?"

"Ah yes. Mister Maxwell. He's right here!" Nadir declared and a large grin spread over his face. Two guards walked in at that moment, pulling Duo between the two of them. They handed Duo to Nadir.

"None of you are to interfere with anything that happens in here, and that's an order," Nadir gave his best death glare to the guards who saluted him and quickly left the room, afraid of their leaders vengeance.

"You see, Trinity, it just so happens that Mr. Maxwell and I have already had a little run in. It's almost humorous that you ended up to be with these five as you are related to me, and I was just the man they were looking for. Well, they found me, didn't you, Duo?" Nadir hefted Duo to his feet and went to unlocking Duo's handcuffs.

As soon as Duo's cuffs were off, the braided pilot took a swing at the blond soldier, but as a result of his previous beatings, Duo's strength was almost gone and the weak blow just lightly smacked Nadir on the shoulder as the soldier moved out of the way. Nadir responded with a sharp kick into Duo's stomach which sent the pilot flying to the floor.

"You see, when I have a disagreement with someone, I have us settle it over a fight. The one who wins was obviously the one who was right. Fighting is a perfectly fair way of setting disputes, right Maxwell?" Nadir glanced over at Duo.

Pilot 02 was slowly trying to pick himself off the floor. He sent a glare over towards Nadir as the soldier continued to taunt him, but then he looked up and met Trinity's eyes with almost the same amount of hatred. 

Trinity couldn't stand that. "Don't look at me like that!!" She screamed as she closed her eyes and covered her face.

"You heard her, Mr. Maxwell, stop looking at her like that!" Nadir mocked as he walked swiftly over to Duo and kneed him in the mid section. He continued to pick up Duo off the floor and fling him this way and that. Duo never let a scream utter from his lips and tried in vain to defend himself in some way, but after all that he had gone through that day, he hadn't a chance against the well rested Nadir. 

Nadir flung Duo across the marble floor particularly far after awhile and seemed to wait to see if he could pick himself up. Trinity's eyes followed Duo as she saw him roll over onto his stomach in pain. Nadir seemed to be satisfied that his prey wasn't going to move while he was gone, so he started walking slightly towards Trinity, but she didn't bother to follow him with her eyes. 

Dark brown orbs bore into Duo's sad figure as the pilot propped himself up slightly with his hands and started to cough.

"Don't, Nadir," she whispered. She felt completely helpless; the brunette didn't want to fight, but what could she do to help? "Stop this."

From over where Nadir was, she heard the sound of gliding metal and his voice saying, "This is between me and Mr. Maxwell, Trinity."

The brunette whipped her head around quickly to see that it was a table that Nadir was standing at which held three swords on top of it. One of them, the one that was lying down still, was hers, and the other two Nadir held in his hands. 

He flung one over towards Duo; it slide across the marble floor with a grating sound like fingers on a chalk board and stopped right next to the pilot's right hand, but Duo didn't make a grab for it. He was too weak to pick it up, and on top of that, he didn't know the first thing about sword play. 

As Trinity watched Nadir start for Duo she mumbled weakly, "This isn't fair, Nadir."

Her step-brother turned to face her for a second as he quipped, "Of course it is. We both have weapons. It's not like I didn't give him one." He was only a few steps away from Duo now and had the sword pulled back behind his back, ready for the killing stoke. 

Nadir began to swing his sword straight at Duo's neck when a sharp ringing sensation was sent through his arms and a loud clash rang in his ears: Trinity was standing in between him and Duo, sword blocking his, and glaring at him with all of her might. She pushed him back with all of her might away from Duo who was still attempting to pull himself off the floor and met Nadir's eyes with her narrowed ones.

To her complete horror, Nadir began to laugh hysterically. "See? You're so simple! All I had to do was get you a little riled up, and you'd be out fighting in a split second!"

"You're insane," Trinity chocked out as she held her sword in front of her in case he tried anything funny.

"Possibly, but that's because of you, dear sister." Nadir stretched his arms behind his back and moved his head around a little as he stretched out his muscles. "Now, shall we get this over before she finds out and comes to interfere?"

"She?" Trinity inquired.

Nadir smirked. "Don't worry about her. I doubt you'll have to worry about living through this to meet her. Come along, now. Let's begin what should have ended a long time ago."

"Oh, so poetic!" Trinity remarked sarcastically as she lunged at her step-brother.

***


	12. A Simple Twist of Fate

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Twelve

"A Simple Twist of Fate"

By Magic

Blam-o!

She didn't lift her head to see what or who had just gotten beaten severely as Hannah was having the time of her life as it was; she had decided after a great amount of musing that this was the first time in her life, as far as she knew, that she had been tied to a very large marble pillar with rope and duck tape. Her back itched, her mouth was completely dry for lack of her quenching ice water, and she was almost certain that the feeling in her left hand was never going to come back after this. 

Even so, she had decided to make the best out of this grand first experience by removing herself from it. At first, there had been no way that she would have been able to do anything with the ropes, let alone the large slab of duct tape that covered the whole lower portion of her face, but after Trinity had begun untying her ropes for a few seconds before becoming distracted with the current situation that was playing before her very eyes, the ropes had been loosened a great deal. All that was left for Hannah was to use her former gymnastics training and squirm out of the bindings before anyone noticed what she was trying to do. 

"Keep it coming," Hannah grumbled through the duct-tapyness as sister and step-brother were having some sort of verbal fight over whether or not the braided one was going to live or not. "Psycho boy over there just needs to be distracted for a little bit longe--," she removed her right hand from the ropes and swiftly tore the duct tape from her face, "holy cheese curds! That hurt!" Her blue eyes became a bit misty as the burning sensation spread across her face like a wind burn rash on a dry day in North Dakota. 

"Talk about the biggest band-aid in the world..." She continued to mumble to herself as she stepped over the ropes and clenched her left hand which seemed to be coming back to life. This was always a good thing as she figured she would need it at a later date to severely beat Trinity with both her change sock and her silence glaive. There were only a couple of things that really irked her; among these were liars and the crusty, dry stuff on top of plastic milk cartons.

"Oh, so poetic!" Trinity's voice rang loudly throughout the large ballroom, and the blonde's head snapped to the side just in time to see her friend speed towards Psycho-Boy and clash swords with him. Time to get a move on! Hannah figured as she flew towards the nearest pillar and started undoing Quatre's bonds.

Her fingers couldn't seem to get a grip on the thick rope though as they shook from either A) lack of caffeine and/or other sugary substance or B) her fear that someone was going to walk in the door directly to her left any second and fill her with holes. She didn't exactly want to be a large, bloody pulp or a human in the form of Swiss cheese for that matter; Swiss cheese wasn't even one of the better kinds of cheese. Hannah forced herself to stop thinking about food at the moment, even though she knew it would come back to food eventually. Food always ran full circle.

After what seemed like an eternity, the ropes that wound around Quatre Winner's body fell to the floor, and he removed the duct tape from his own mouth without so much as a wince. "Help me undo the others as quick as possible." His eyes jumped from Trinity and Nadir, who had slowly made their way over towards the other side of the room, to the three pilots, who were still bound to the pillars. "I don't know if anyone is going to come in here and 'interrupt' us, but it would be better to move quickly and not find out either way."

Hannah nodded and silently followed the blonde pilot to where the other boys were attempting in vain to wiggle out of their bondage. She skid to a halt in front of Trowa and tore the duct tape from his mouth before moving on to the ropes the encircled him. "So," she inquired softly so just Trowa could hear her talking, "what are we going to do about Trinity?" Her normally all-smiles face was covered with the lines of worry. "Do you think she can beat Nadir herself?" 

Silence was all she received from Trowa as an answer. Hannah figured that he didn't even know those answers himself. The ropes eventually dropped from his slim body, and pilot 03 stepped shakily away from the marble. Couldn't he have thought of a different way to immobilize us? I never in my life expected that as a Gundam pilot I would eventually be tied to a marble pillar. Beaten with a stick? Yes. Of course, but a marble pillar? Trowa only shook his head as he figured there were more screws loose in Nadir than most people had tightened in their heads.

"Hannah," Quatre got the blonde's attention as he started on Heero's bonds with help from Wufei, who was standing beside him. "You and Trowa-," the sound of breaking glass interrupted Quatre's commanding voice. For a second, a flash of panic could be seen in Quatre's eyes, but he covered it up as quickly as it had came. "You and Trowa go check on Duo and bring him back over here." Quatre's hands continued to fumble with the ropes as Trowa pulled Hannah along with him onto the main part of the ballroom floor.

As Hannah approached Duo's still body, she began to wonder what had happened while she had been trying to get out of the ropes. Blood trickled from his mouth and a large gash above his left eyebrow onto the marble floor and pooled there on the cold stone. His breath was jagged and came in gasps instead of a steady rhythm; the site didn't get any prettier as they got closer to him. 

Trowa leaned down and placed two of his fingers across Duo's neck as he checked for his pulse. Hannah found herself standing a few feet farther away as if she was afraid of being to close to Duo's bruised body. 

"His pulse is regular and strong," Trowa declared as he flipped his fellow pilot carefully over onto his back. He really does look awful. Nadir took everything out on him. He glanced up to Hannah and realized the blonde girl was shaking. I wish there was something I could say to her, but there is nothing that can lighten the situation at the moment. The magic haired pilot lifted Duo Maxwell up off the ground as delicately as he possibly could and approached the blonde silently. Unless, Trowa thought to himself, I start tap dancing, but we don't have to worry about that as it isn't an option.

It was only a few seconds before Hannah informed to her friend with the magic bangs what had gotten her so shaken up. "Trinity. She's no longer in here." Her light blue eyes looked up into Trowa's green ones. "Where are Trinity and Nadir? What has he done with my friend?!" Hannah's nerves had reached the breaking point; her voice came out shaky and came out in uncontrollable pitches that even an opera singer couldn't have hit. 

"Trowa!" Quatre's voice yelled from where Heero and Wufei were standing, their ropes removed. Trowa's head as well as Hannah's turned in the direction of the voice. "You take Hannah and Duo to the garage and try to find some vehicle that can get us out of here safely. Heero, Wufei, and I are going to go after Trinity and Nadir."

"Don't you think this is something that Trinity and Nadir should work out for themselves?" Wufei argued only half heartedly. He didn't even seem to believe his own words as his face turned towards the floor. 

Heero glanced towards the Chinese pilot and gave him a piercing gaze that even those closest to him couldn't quite get used to, "Is that really what you're thinking, Wufei? Leave her here and just escape without her?" He began walking towards the door where he had last seen Nadir's soldier's exit. What's the fun in that? Heero thought to himself as he pulled the wooden door open to reveille a lone soldier standing there; Heero's foot contacted with the soldier's chin even before he even realized that someone had opened the door. 

Heero began to rummage through the soldier's pockets, throwing towards the others anything that he could find useful. "If that's how you feel, then you should go with Trowa and leave me and Quatre to running after Trinity." Heero stood up and faced the rest of them with a loaded machine gun in his hands. "You of all people should be able to see the," Heero's lips pursed into a small smirk, "injustice that is going on here." He kicked the hand gun he had found in one of the soldier's pockets towards Wufei's feet.

The black haired youth bent down and picked up the gun; without looking, he removed the safety from it and turned his back to the others. "If we're going, let's get going. I don't believe that she can last long against Nadir."

Hannah started off at the pilot, her patience with his womanizing completely gone for the moment. "Just because she's female doesn't mean that you can assume tha-"

Wufei's black eyes turned towards her in defense, and he stated clearly, "I don't think that it's her being a girl that will cause her to loose. I was speaking, rather, of how she probably finds it very hard to fight one of her family, especially after everything that has happened to her." He paused for a moment as if contemplating something. "Though, I'm sure her being a woman doesn't help in the least bit."

Quatre found it in himself to smile lightly and started towards the elevator with a wave to the others to follow. "Good luck, Trowa, Hannah. We'll see you in the garage." He waved to them as he and the other two designated pilots entered the grey elevator on their way towards the ground floor.

***

Her glazed eyes didn't see what she was staring at ahead of her; her lungs didn't seem to grasp the oxygen that she was rapidly taking in as her body was raked with gasps; her mind wasn't playing in the present at the moment. It has back once again back five minutes in the past when she had first lunged at her step-brother.

"Oh, so poetic!" She had screamed at him as her feet kicked off from the ground; her body slammed into his full force, knocking him back a few feet as he was off guard to the blow with had come so suddenly. It wasn't long though before he had regained his poise and his sword rang against hers; the sound resonated throughout the large hall as the two both became locked into the same stance. 

They both pushed away with all their strength in sync, and both rushed back, hitting their swords together once more. It was as if they moved in complete unison, and if someone had been watching, it would have looked like some sort of odd dance that was being preformed for them. They had both practiced under the same teacher, and they had both fought against each other many times when they had been younger. Both new what was coming from the other one as much as a single person knows their own thoughts that run through their mind. 

His sword slammed down onto hers just as she brought hers up in front of her face to deflect the blow. The blow rang painfully through her arm muscles and into her shoulder as she bent down against the force of the hit. She couldn't seem to find the strength in her arms any longer to push him back after he attacked, so she did what she found to be most logical in her position: she kicked him viciously in the shin.

Even though it didn't quite stand up to code when dueling with someone, Trinity got her wanted effect which was a distraction long enough for her to get the upper hand. She flung her sword against his with all of her might, and since Nadir's grip had lessened slightly on his hilt, his weapon went flying out of his grasp and skid to a halt on the floor a couple of feet away. 

As her anger for her step-brother clouded her thinking, she thrust her sword straight down at his head. Normally, that would have rendered the killing blow for anyone else, but in her rage, the brunette had left it out of her current thoughts that Nadir had always loved that stroke because he could defend himself against it.

Nadir caught the blade effortlessly between his two hands, each against the flat side, and Trinity was stuck with her sword grasped tightly by Nadir. Her eyes widened in fear as he gazed at her from behind the sword. 

"You don't remember," he said. "You couldn't remember that simple little trick that I knew. Not even when your life depended on it."

Trinity tried to pull her sword away from his grasp, but it didn't budge an inch.

Nadir's eyes became wild with anger and his voice seemed to hiss out from behind his clenched teeth. "You would have killed me just like that, hmmm? No thoughts on the subject?! Why didn't you THINK about it first?!? YOU MISSED!!"

His hand swiftly reached into the depths of his blue uniform and removed an object that Trinity hardly had a chance to see at first. It was rather that she felt it before she realized what the thing was. Pain seared through her thigh as Nadir's dagger dug deep into her unprotected flesh, right into the muscle.

She wanted to scream out in pain, but not a sound came out from her open mouth as she bent a little over and let go of her sword. Trinity staggered a back a few steps as she tried to get away from her crazed brother, but there was no escaping the enraged Nadir as he took a hold of her shirt and lifted her off the ground.

The look he gave her made her want to vomit; she felt her insides twist within her as his hatred seemed to flow into her veins. He pulled her up so high as she was almost looking down at him from up above, and his grip changed so that he was now holding her viciously by the neck. 

Suddenly for a split second, the hatred in his eyes disappeared, but it was quickly covered by the look of great pain, and Nadir's free hand went to his head. "You make me sick." The blonde soldier replied softly, his voice caked with danger. Trinity couldn't say anything as her throat was cut off by Nadir's hand wrapped tightly around her neck. She struggled against his grip, but to no avail; her world was becoming darker as she needed oxygen to fill her lungs once again. 

His hold on her tightened for a quick second before he declared, "Get out of my sight."

It was Trinity's first time a flying, but that is generally what she was doing for a few seconds. Flying towards the stained glass window where Nadir had flung her. It was quite enjoyable for those two seconds before her body came in contact with the window, causing it to shatter all around her; that was probably the least enjoyable part for her as the aftermath wasn't so bad. The falling didn't worry her too much as she could at least breath a few raged gasps in and out before she figured she would hit the pavement with a deafening crunch. 

Rather than a crunch, her body jolted as she sunk into chilly water; her dark brown eyes snapped open as she sunk to the bottom of the five foot fountain and scrapped her elbows on the mosaic tiles. First, the realization that she was still alive came to her, next was the hunger for oxygen that her lungs screamed for as they burned within her chest. Her feet swiftly found the slippery glass floor, and Trinity stood up quickly, her head breaking the surface as water flew everywhere. 

A phenomena took place though; even though she was out of the water, the liquid continued to pelt itself at her face. After taking a step to the right, she realized that it was in fact the angel fountain that she had been flung into, and the angel statue before her was 'spitting' onto her head. It figured. Even the angels mocked her. 

She stood there for a few seconds, filling her lungs with the frigid air before the feeling that someone was watching her came to her attention. Her eyes slowly scanned up the side of the mansion before they came to the window where she had just flown from; Nadir was leaning out amongst the remaining glass from the window, eyes widen, gazing down at her.

Trinity felt her heart begin to pound and all sense left her body when Nadir's form pulled away from the window. She watched his shadow move quickly past the other windows of the ballroom. He's coming after me. He's probably in the elevator by now, sword in hand, swearing to himself for picking the wrong window to chuck me out of, Trinity thought in a remarkably calm way. 

"He'll be here any minute now," her voice seemed small as it almost blended in completely with the night sounds around her.

'Any minute now' echoed through her body, and Trinity flung herself over the edge of the fountain and rolled out onto the pavement. She smashed the flowers in the garden under her as she staggered to her feet, only to fall down to one knee.

"Shit," she swore as she grasped the dagger that remained in her thigh with her right hand and tore it from her right leg. The wound burned as she stood up once again and began to limp her way frantically towards the french doors that stood in front of her. What little sense was left in her panic stricken brain told her that she didn't have a chance hiding in the wide open garden; her best bet was to get into the house and find some random room where she could just hide behind some chair.

"Why now, why now, shit, damn it," she kept repeating as she grabbed the doorknobs and tried to yank the door open with all of her strength, but it didn't budge a bit. Without a thought, she shattered the glass near the handle with the hilt of the dagger and reached her hand inside through the hole she had made. Her fingers slipped around the lock for a second as she released the clamp. She turned the handle and slung open the door quietly.

The glass door creaked eerily as she pushed it slowly open; the hallway was dark and motionless when she stepped into it. She decided to wait a second, completely still, to see if she could hear anything, but nothing came to her eyes besides the sound of her own rapid breathing and water from her clothing dripping onto the tile floor.

Plop.

Plop. Plop.

Trinity forced her body to move down the hall to the left as fast as she possibly could. This way was moving away from the elevator that Nadir was going to have to use to get down to that floor. "Why can't he just leave me alone," she mumbled through purple lips as she hobbled farther down the long hallway, taking her time to make sure that none of his lackey's where down this way. 

Her heart skipped a beat as she heard a squeaking noise on the tile. She looked down through her mangled, wet hair at her shoes which were 'speaking' as their wet soles came in contact with the floor. In a motion that was completely void of any grace, she flung herself to the side of the hallway behind a statue of armor where she sat and began removing her shoes. 

Trinity blinked and her glazed over eyes lost their cloudiness. Her cold fingers were clutching the backs of her left shoe; she was sitting on the marble floor. How long have I been sitting here?! Trinity didn't have any recollection of the time she must have spent going through the recent events while sitting there on the floor. It couldn't have been too long though as the puddle of water that was growing underneath her hadn't gotten too large, but any time at all wasted was costly.

"Where is he?" Trinity whispered under her breath as she removed her shoes from her feet. A morbid thought crossed her mind and her adrenaline kicked in full boost. "What if he isn't coming after me? What if he went after Hannah? Or the guys?" Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she pushed herself into a standing position, using the wall was support. 

"It would be my fault," she muttered without registering that she had said it out loud. It was all she could do to keep herself from running back towards the ballroom screaming like a banshee after a pint of beer. 

After making sure that her feet were planted firmly in place and that she wasn't going to do any shouting, Trinity started her way slowly down the path she had started. First, she dropped one of her shoes onto the hallway floor; around fifty feet later, the other one followed as well. 

"I'll just leave him a trail of bread to follow, so he comes after me instead," Trinity conversed with herself. She wasn't sure whether it was the loss of blood or the shock from her current situation, but she didn't find conversing with herself to be anything odd at all. In fact, she began to wonder why she had not tried to do so earlier in her life. 

"It's not like it's really bread," she reminded herself.

She seemed to scoff at herself, "Like I don't know that! It's shoes for crying out loud. I think I'd recognize a shoe from a piece of bread."

"Well, I was just checking," Trinity said sarcastically. "It wouldn't be the first stupid mistake that you've made in your life. Let alone today."

"I know, I know! You don't have to remind me about what's going-OUCH!" Her right leg had chosen that very moment to remind her that she still had a very large gash in it. Her eyes glanced down at her battered leg to see blood mixed with fountain water flowing down it and onto her footprints. She had been leaving a trail of crimson water ever since she had walked in through the door. 

She felt stupid for not realizing it sooner and growled, "I didn't even have to leave the bread behind for him to follow."

"Shoes!"

"Whatever!! They're both wonderful and shiny!!"

Trinity was certain that now Nadir could be positive of her position in the house, let alone the universe. "Yeah, that's right, just keep coming you psycho, bad breathed, fashion senseless, bastard! I'm...I'm..." her vision was starting to blur from the loss of blood as well as the pain which seemed to have taken over her whole right side, "ready for ya...kinda." She opened the door in front of her and stepped into the large living room.

"Who are you kidding, Trinity?" She asked herself as she scanned the room. "You couldn't beat even Duo at the moment if he was blind folded, tequila drunk, and had all of his limps tied behind his back."

There wasn't anything in the room that could have helped her out of her predicament. It contained the usual things one would expect to find in a completely average living room. The silvery outlines of a couch, two chairs and a coffee table could be seen illuminated from the lights the shimmered out of the large windows that surrounded most of the room. Metal stairs up to a small, second floor library could be seen spiraling upwards to the balcony like overhang. 

Her lips moved slightly as she murmured, "It's like being in a nightmare." She ripped the lower half of her shirt off to bind her leg with as she continued. "One of the ones where no matter how fast you run or where you go," she wrapped the black piece of fabric tightly around her thigh with a wince, hoping it would do a little good in stopping the blood which still ran down her leg in thin little streams, "you can never run fast enough or get away to safety."

She shut the door so that she could at least be warned when Nadir was entering and limped over to the far corner and slid down the wall into a squatting position behind one of the chairs on the farthest corner from the door. It was all that she could do to force herself to sit there and wait for her step-brother to arrive. 

Trinity wanted a band-aid. Badly.

***

The magic haired pilot of 03 swung tightly around the corner as the trio, which was more like a duo as pilot 02 wasn't currently with them to say the least, flew towards what they hoped to be the garage. Hannah followed suit, but her corner wasn't as tight as her friends. She ended up skidding all the way across the hallway and collided with a suit of armor on the other side. 

Among the crashes and scraping noises that sounded when the armor hit the floor, Hannah yelled after the magic haired one, "I'm all right!" 

Trowa glanced back to make sure that she wasn't too far behind. He gave her a small nod and went on ahead to make sure that no lackeys were there to hinder their passage. The walls passed quickly beside him as his and Hannah's footsteps echoed down the dark corridor. A door came up at the end of the hallway and they both quickly whooshed into the grande room as their feet slid across the floor. It was yellow with massive amounts of white furniture, the kind you would find in a place comme Versailles. White draperies were suspended from the ceiling with the help of ornate rods to cover the full-size bay window. The finishing touch to the room seemed to be the mahogany door (which was very pretty, by the way) offset by a gigantic pillar. 

Outlined by the lights of the city was the visage of one of Nadir's henchman. The pilot shoved Hannah behind him right before the room erupted in heat and noise; the bay window shattered with the force as the grenade went off against the wall. The fancy curtains quickly went up in flames, and the furniture didn't seem to hold up well either as it was in bits and pieces all around the room. 

While the dust was settling, Trowa leaned over towards Hannah and slid Duo off of his shoulder. "Prop him up somewhere for a moment." The blonde took the pilot gingerly by the shoulders and pulled him next to the door where she propped him up. She turned her blue eyes back towards her fellow friend as he dashed into the smoke and debris towards the soldier. 

The fire smoldered over on the other side of the room as it ate up all of the oxygen. Hannah covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve and opened the door up a little bit so that Duo could get some fresh air as well. "Now, don't even think about walking out that door without me. It's not nice. And besides, you're injured." Had Duo been conscious, a wave of deja vu would have flowed over him. 

By that time, Trowa had reached the loan soldier, who was vigorously rummaging through his pockets for a pistol but wasn't having any luck. As his adversary approached, the lackey hit a defensive stance, but that wasn't going to do him any good. (But at least he THOUGHT so.) The best he could do is take it like a man. He was lucky enough to dodge the pilot's first punch (notice how it just says 'first punch'.) The second and third hit him square in the jaw, but the best was yet to come. As the coup de grace, Trowa let out a high kick which landed right on the man's jaw, shattering it. When the soldier's head snapped back from the force, a sound like when a walnut's shell is cracked rang out as his neck broke as his body sailed up in a arc and landed in a crumpled mass on the hard floor, bouncing once, then twice, over the tiles. Arms and legs were everywhere as the soldier landed in a heap against the wall. 

Hannah was just about to start applauding when her ears perked up. Something in the room sounded not right; she glanced over towards the pillar to the side of her friend which was teetering dangerously out of position. That's never good, Hannah mused as she took off towards her magic banged ami. In her patented hip check, the blonde rammed her bony hip of doom into Trowa's upper leg, sending her friend skidding out of dangers way. 

Unfortunately, her own reflexes when concerned with her own well being were lacking slightly, and she couldn't get out of the pillars way before it collapsed directly on top of her. It could have been Trowa's imagination or maybe it really happened, but he could swear that he heard Hannah grumble, "Damn it" from under the pile of plaster.

Trowa leaned next to the crumbling pillar and began removing white pieces off of Hannah's unconscious body which lay sprawled out on the floor. His dark green eyes scanned her body as he dusted the remaining flecks of white stuff. He brushed her blonde hair out of her face as it was gathering blood which was trickling out of a large gash across her forehead. From the looks of its odd position, her left arm was broken in possibly more than one place as well. 

Gingerly, he plucked her body out from the rubble and turned towards his fellow pilot who by this time had slumped down to the ground, but at least he had fresh air coming in from the doorway. So, how exactly is this going to work? Trowa wondered as the flames in the room became larger. He figured that there wasn't enough time to pull a McGuiver while the fire was slowly devouring the furniture. 

He situated Hannah on his back as if he was giving her a piggy-back ride and leaned forward so she wouldn't fall off backwards as he carried Duo slung across his arms, braid dangling over the edge. The going was slow, but at least they were off and going again, even if there was only one of them left standing by the time they hit the garage. It was all good. 

***

A large 'boom' sounded down the halls and Quatre glanced worriedly towards Heero and Wufei who were running along beside him. "I hope our friends are okay."

"We have ourselves to worry about right now, Quatre. Keep your eyes ahead," Wufei growled as they turned another corner. 

The soldiers seemed to be closing in on them from all sides as if they had been waiting for them to leave the safety of the ballroom, and the guys weren't exactly thrilled with that idea. The first of the lackey's jumped out from one of the random doorways and into the hallway; before he could do much damage, Heero's machine gun had gone off. The bullets riddle his body and made him move around like a puppet before collapsing to the floor with a sickening thud. 

"One down," spandex boy declared as they entered the main hall.

The three glanced around to get their bearings and quickly realized that they were screwed. Apart from the large, sparkly chandelier that hung from the ceiling, the only other remarkable feature of the room was the many doors that riddled the walls. The trio halted in the center of the room as soldiers began flowing in through all of the doors that surrounded the room as well as down the stairs. 

Quatre sighed and told Heero over his shoulder, "You have a couple left."

Heero responded with a grunt. "Yeah."

Their shoulders pressed up against each other as they were pressed into a small circle as the soldiers gathered around them, gun raised. They were hungry. There didn't seem to be much that the others could do at the moment except glance over at Quatre. 

The platinum blonde glanced from one to the other and gave 'the nod'. 

Whoosh! They were in action. Wufei broke the circle by flying over the other soldiers in an acrobatic feat, surprising some and making others wet themselves. But they didn't have to worry about their soiled undergarments for long because soon their brains were plastered to the ground.

Heero held a machine gun in his hands; what else do you need to know? Limbs and arms went soaring through the air as the empty cartridges clanked on the floor. Blood and internal organs were also added to the mixture in large amounts. Before long, he was going to have to find another weapon as the shells were quickly being used up. 

The brains of the operation was busying himself trying not to die. The poor boy was a strategist and this thing just wasn't his strong point. He figured that if he could find some sort of opening in the sea of soldiers that he could pick up some sort of weapon to protect himself with. A tiny crack in the wave opened for a spilt second as the lackey's pushed closer to Wufei, and Quatre dived for it like Trinity flings herself towards the fridge after grocery day. As he ran, he bent down to snatch a gun from the floor and took off towards the outside of the circle. 

His feet pounding quickly on the marble, Quatre slid into the closest doorway and surveyed the scene from a spectators position. It almost seemed like they were winning what had looked like a perfectly hopeless battle; what had been three versus fifty or so soldiers, had now dwindled to the pilots against but a handful of adversaries. 

How was the possible though? Had their speculation on victory caused their ultimate defeat? Did they believe in their skills to the point where their egos clouded their vision?

It was possible. Anything in life was possible, but Quatre's thoughts centered more around another alternative to the ease with which they were escaping this situation. It was a thought that made bile rise up in the blonde's throat: these weren't trained soldiers at all. Probably the sons of well-to-do families sent out at their parents wishes to earn a heroic name for the family, and they had come here to be slaughtered. 

His thoughts were broken by the sharp pain that cursed through his right leg, and his light blue eyes gazed around the room and landed on the soldier that had his gun trained on him. He had been foolish to allow his thoughts to wander as he stood out in the open. Quatre slowly raised his hands above his head after realizing that if this young man had really wanted to kill him, he would already be dead.

The youth's eyes shown with the insanity of battle and his hands shook fiercely as he tried to hold his weapon even with his enemy. Just pull the trigger. Just get this over with! The soldier screamed at himself in his head as his dark green eyes met the eyes of the blonde in front of him. 

It was only one quick glance from his adversary that made the pilot realize that someone was standing right behind him. His eyes widened as he attempted to pull the trigger, but his hands were no longer under his control. The floor was coming up to meet him as he felt the crushing blow to his neck, and his thoughts ran away from the room. Swiftly they flew, to his friends, to his family as they raced against time to embody his life in those last seconds before his emerald eyes sunk shut. 

Heero stood in the area where the soldier had stood just seconds before; he gazed right over the body at his fellow pilot across the room and nodded towards the doorway. "Now would be the best time to make out exit."

Quatre removed his eyes from the soldier's body and his body began to move without him commanding him to do so. A shoulder suddenly supported him from the right as he limped towards the doorway and across the crimson tiles; he turned his head only slightly to nod a thanks to Wufei before Heero's shoulder also aided his walk. 

"He was too scared to pull the trigger." Quatre's voice sounded weak in the large room as the three moved along as one down to where they hoped they'd find their friend before her step-brother.

"Then he shouldn't have been on the battle field at all," Wufei growled, but his words lacked their usual cut.

***

Her meek voice sounded dull and raspy in the well furnished room as her eyes traced the lines of the couch in the dim light that slide in through the windows from the city. She was humming some little tune that she had heard somewhere before, but couldn't quite place it's name firmly in her head. Her parched throat made the sounds come out hoarse and shallow.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly as she realized what she was doing; her step-brother would probably walk through the door before her at any moment, and yet she was humming. And very out of tune at that. 

Perhaps I have gone insane, Trinity mused as she fiddled with the dagger that rested heavily in her hands. Her fingers traced it's sharpened edge idly as she awaited Nadir's inevitable appearance. I don't think I would mind so much. Being insane that is. 

"It could be a welcomed adventure," she whispered dryly to herself. "I'm sure Nadir wouldn't mind if I followed in his footsteps." She laughed uncontrollably to herself in the corner of the dark room and was certain that her last nerve had been shot.

"Did you get out Hannah?" She inquired to the shadows. "Did Duo's nose heal crooked? Does Heero still glare at everyone, or has he quite that habit?" She could feel herself slowly straighten up into a standing position. 

She swayed for a moment, but steadied herself against the cold wall. "Has Quatre quit taking his afternoon tea every Sunday? Or does he still continue that? And when will Trowa buy a better fitting pair of pants?" Somehow, something inside of her was telling her to hold on; to at least attempt to find out the answers to these questions, but something deeper than that was pulling her towards the doorway where the light had suddenly increased from the hallway.

In it's wake stood a silhouette that gazed around the room inquiringly before stepping in and raising what seemed to be a very long stick. Trinity understood. No one carried around sticks. At least not cracked up step-brothers. 

"When will Wufei realize that no matter how hard he tries, Hannah will always best him in any argument?"

The figure turned towards the sound of her voice and lashed out into the darkness, but Trinity lightly skipped out of the way. 

"When will the war end?"

"The war will never end, Trinity. There is no use fighting out against something that man will continue for years after your death."

Nadir's eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness, and he was blindly sweeping his sword through the air while Trinity made her way quietly over towards his back side. Her whole body was covered in goosebumps and her mind refuse to yet grasp reality. 

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because this is the path that I have been ordered upon by fate." He turned again to face her in the darkness and oddly enough lowered his sword for just a second as if waiting for her to speak once again.

"Why do you believe in fate?"

The sword raised again and he advanced on the brunette, his eyes vaguely making out her form in the blackness of the room. Trinity made sure to keep the distance between her and Nadir large enough for a semi to pass through.

"Because there is nothing else in this world to believe in." With that he lunged at her, but she was already out of his way and behind the sofa. "Can you tell me that you seriously believe in life? What is there to put our faith in? Love?" A cold laugh escaped his mouth. "I have already seen that there is no love in this world. Not between siblings. Not between friends. Not between father's and their children." His voice seemed to falter and a sob sounded from his chest. "If only you could see it, Trinity. The hate that I have seen...the blood that I have seen spilled. You would understand that there is nothing left to believe in but fate. Fate that we will all die one day." 

Nadir's eyes glazed over and for a second his thoughts became jumbled up in his mind as if he was breaking off into two entirely different people. He couldn't remember where he was, or what he was doing except that he had one goal in mind: to end it. To end it all. But the two different people inside of him called for different endings. Which one was the real goal he longed for?

Trinity was now certain of it. The noise that she heard from Nadir's direction had actually been a cry. For some unknown reason, her step-brother had almost begun to cry in this dark room. She felt her strength leave her and doubt rose up inside of her. Would she actually be able to even try to kill him? Her heart rate sky rocketed, and she found herself rapidly backing away from her kin. 

In her haste to get away from him, she knocked over the lamp that sat on the wooden table to her right. Glass flew all about as the crash resounded in the silence of the room. Nadir's daze was broken and his head filled with a sharp pain. His mind chose one goal and with that one obsessive thought, he dashed towards Trinity, sword in hand.

The brunette would never be able to remember what exactly happened within those two seconds that Nadir came flying after her, but the next thing she could remember was the thunk of his sword landing on the soft carpet and his gasp as he glanced down towards where the dagger lay embedded in his stomach. The feeling of his warm blood on her hands; the sound of his ragged breath; the taste of her own tears in her mouth. All that was clear in her mind. As were his words.

"Why do you give me--such a headache?" Gasps for air in the midst of blinding pain broke his usually flowing speech. 

"Isn't that what little sisters are for?" Trinity whispered. Her mind was telling her to move, to run quickly from the room, but her body stayed where she stood. She could feel Nadir leaning against her and even smell the sweat that covered his body. It if had been under different circumstances, she would have told him to go take a shower. That he smelt. That his deodorant wasn't working in the slightest. 

He chest moved in a jumping motion, and Trinity realized that he was laughing. She found herself listening to the sound and found no malice in its ring. His hand moved from his side and rested on her dark haired head, lightly, as if she was a small child.

Nadir moved his dark blue eyes to survey his little step-sister and for once found his thoughts clear and concise. So that was what had happened. That was what was going on. Oh, the things he had to tell her about this war. What was happening and what may happen very soon.

"Trinity -- " It was then when he saw the small, red dot move over her chest.

It's crazy how fast you can make a decision, Nadir thought as the pain seared through his chest and he felt as if he was being ripped from his body, how funny that a few seconds ago I was trying to kill her, and then I leaned right in front of that sniper's bullet. How funny.

How ironically hilarious. 

Nadir's dead weight rested on Trinity's shoulder as her brown eyes opened widely. What had just happened? Why was her face covered in blood? What had Nadir done? "Nadir?" She collapsed under his weight and found herself on the floor lying under his body.

"Nadir?!" She shoved him off of her and flipped his body over so she could look at his face. 

"NADIR!?" She slapped him viciously across the face and shook his body roughly. The tears now slid down her face without control as she screamed his name over and over again in the darkness of the room. 

It wasn't until firm hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her to her feet from behind that she noticed other people had entered the room. Three other people in fact. She was looking in the familiar face of Heero Yuy, but her mind wasn't grasping what was going on. Trinity pushed him away from her in a panic and took several steps back.

"Get the hell away from me! Don't touch me!"

"Trinity..." The blonde in the room mumbled. His voice was drenched with pity and sadness. 

The one that had tried to grab her, again made another move for her, this time more forcefully. "We have to get out of here right now, Trinity. Hannah and Trowa are waiting for us."

"Hannah..." A small spark of recognition danced across her eyes, but it was quickly covered as the brunette started to scream hysterically as she kicked and fought against her captors hold. Her fingernails dug deeply into his flesh, but his grip didn't let up as he pulled her closer to him in an attempt to calm her. 

"My family!" Trinity managed to free one of her hands and she reached towards the still form on the ground. "Nadir!!"

"They're dead." Another voice in the room sounded out to the hysterical girl. 

"NooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOO!!" She shrieked, but Heero now had a better grip on her. Two more arms encircled her from behind, and Trinity found herself being held almost completely still by the forceful embrace that she had been forced into. 

"It'll be alright. We're going to get you away from here."

"Quatre." Trinity choked as she went limp in the blonde's arms. "I'm sorry, Heero," she declared through her sobs as she rested her head on his shoulder. As her tears dripped slowly down the pilot's shoulder, Quatre slowly removed his arms from the young girl. "I'm sorry."

All three of the pilots understood that her last words were not intended for anyone in the room that could hear them at that moment. As quickly as they had came, the three exited the room and pulled the fourth party along with them.

***

"Are you sure that you want to do something like this?" The middle aged man sat behind the desk, cigar held loosely between his fingertips as he assessed the young girl that sat in front of him. "You are, though most wouldn't believe it, the commander of the army whose war has just begun. Are you sure you want to chance your war on this?" He nibbled the end of his cigar. It wasn't a nervous motion, but rather one that he did often when he was annoyed with something. "Nadir isn't coming back."

"I'm not a child. I understand what death is." The girl's mouth curved into a cruel smile as she stood up from the chair where she sat in front of the man, her long brown hair shifting slightly with her movement. 

"And yet you're still going to go after her?" The elder man's voice held something that could be likened to amusement in it, but he covered it enough so that no one in the room would really be able to distinguish it from his normal drawl. "Nadir made that mistake."

"Deep down Nadir really went after her to die. He proved that when he leaned in front of my bullet." The youth purposefully leaned on the man's table and got in his face. "I will have my revenge." With that she spun on her heels and stormed out of the room, a pair of her personal guards following at her heels like whipped dogs. 

The man sat for a moment and contemplated what had just taken place. Then he smiled and started to laugh. "Do as you wish. This is 'your' war after all." People never did cease to amuse him. He leaned forward in his large desk and pressed one of the buttons on the phone. 

"Yes. This is he." He paused for a second as he listened to the other respond to the information. "Yes. I want you to follow her. Keep me posted on whatever happens. Huh? Assassinate her? No, no. She's the commander of the army. Yes. Nadir did work under her. No. That wont be necessary. Yes, just a simple spy will do nicely. Keep me posted on the pilots as well. What? Yes. All five of them. Mmm-hmm. Keep a close eye on the blonde too. What's her name again? Yes, that's it. Hannah Date. Interfere with the commanders plans? No. Let her do as she wishes. No. And, while you're at it, order me some Chinese. Yes, the usual. And don't forget extra fortune cookies this time. You can be replaced you know."


	13. White Walls

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!  
  
"White Walls"  
Chapter Thirteen  
By Magic  
  
"Ugh....arrrg....what in the...?" Though pilot 02 wasn't normally completely coherent in  
the morning, his rambling seemed to be past the land of the inaudible and on into the valley  
of the inconceivable. Luckily, Heero was there to translate for the confused nurse who was  
standing next to Duo's hospital bed.   
  
"He feels fine. There is no need for any anesthetic." Pilot 01 motioned the nurse  
towards the door. She was glancing back between Heero and the patient in the bed with  
an uncertain look upon her naive face.   
  
"But....are you sure? He doesn't sound as if he's feeling all that great." She stopped  
right before she exited the room.  
  
"He'll be perfectly fine, I assure you," the blonde patient told her with a toothy smile.   
The one motioning her towards the door crossed his arms and nodded. "And if he  
starts complaining, we'll just beat the whining out of him."  
  
The nurse laughed nervously as if she was unsure whether that should be taken as a  
joke or not and fled from the room as if they were all staring at her like she was diner  
(which none of them were for they had all eaten half of the hospital's jell-o already that  
morning and were quite full).   
  
Wufei's lip curled up in annoyance as he watched the young nurse take off down the  
hallway. "I thought she'd never leave. Since when did being ditzy and a woman become  
prerequisites for working at a hospital?" Quatre shook his head in amusement as if to point  
out that pilot 05 was in luck that Hannah wasn't in the same room with them at the moment,  
since the blonde believed that his friend would enjoy keeping all of his male organ's intact.   
  
The braided one who was sprawled out on the bed next to Quatre groaned again  
and finally opened his cobalt blue eyes just enough so that he could review his  
surroundings.   
  
"I feel as if I've been hit by a bus...no...not a bus...I've been hit by Hannah after she  
hasn't had her caffeine...for a week." He moved his hand so it rested on his forehead in a  
vain attempt to lessen his pounding headache. "Make that a month."  
  
"You did make yourself the human punching bag of a raging psychopath. You  
couldn't even fight back yourself. You just took it. Like a wom–"   
  
"That's enough, Wufei," Quatre interrupted, his voice oddly stern partly because they  
had a lot of things to discuss and also because he didn't feel so well himself. "We all need  
to review what has happened and decide on a plan for the future."  
  
Heero leaned up against the gleaming white walls of the hospital room and his  
Persian blue eyes ran over the normalcy of the street out the window. "Funny how there's a  
war going on, and yet no one seems to have noticed." An ironic smile twisted its way up his  
lips.   
  
"Now, Heero, I don't–"  
  
"Where the hell is Trowa?" Duo asked, a tinge of worry in his voice. He was now  
sitting propped up on his elbows and looked out at the three others in the room. This was  
the first time that he was awake enough to take anything in (which was partially the reason  
that everyone had waited to have this talk; there was also the fact that they were too busy  
getting the nurses to bring them extra helpings of green jell-o: pancakes and green jell-o, a  
gundam pilots dream diet).   
  
The other three turned their heads towards the bandaged pilot (it was all that Wufei  
and Heero could do not to burst out laughing; with all of his wounds, Duo had the air of a  
black and blue mummy in a very horrible horror movie). Quatre figured that he should  
speak first so that the other two start something about Duo's appearance.   
  
"He's in the room with Hannah and Trinity." The air in the room all of a sudden  
became heavy; Duo wasn't sure what to make of it and so inquired as to why they all didn't  
come in to this room. He, having been out in la-la land ever since Nadir had taken  
everything out on him, hadn't a clue what had happened through out the rest of the night.  
  
"How did we even get out of there?!" Duo finished his long inquiry with, his voice  
raising at the end as he was getting annoyed at being "out of the loop".  
  
Quatre looked over to Wufei, Wufei to Heero, but Heero was staring out of the  
window still at the hot dog stand across the street and didn't notice the change at all. Wufei  
realized that Heero wasn't going to play the glancing/pointing/you tell him 'game', so he  
reversed it and went back to looking at Quatre. The blonde sighed and figured that he was  
going to have to be the one to retell it all.  
  
"First off, Duo, Nadir is dead, and–"  
  
"Dead!?" Mr. Redundant shot straight up in his bed. His movement caused a  
pained expression to flood his face, and he realized that any sort of movement at that time  
probably wasn't the best idea at all.  
  
Quatre took a deep breath; he was going to have to say it all within one breath if  
they were going to get anywhere as he was sure Duo would interrupt every second and a  
half. "Yes, dead. After Trinity saved you from certain death, she disarmed Nadir where  
upon which he stabbed her in the leg and flung her out of the window–"  
  
"Wha--?!"  
  
"–Hannah managed to get out of her bonds and her and Trowa set off for the  
garage, but on the way they were attacked and Hannah ended up taking a really hard blow  
from the ceiling on her head, and she hasn't exactly woken up yet an–"  
  
"So that's why they aren't in here!" Thank you, Mr. Obvious.  
  
"–d so Wufei, Heero, and I went off to see if we could help Trinity out, but we actually  
ended up being to late–"  
  
Duo opened his mouth as if to say something, and then snapped it shut. During this  
time, Quatre had to pause to take a breath before he continued, and the room momentarily  
filled with a heavy silence (or dramatic pause–which ever way you want to look at it).  
  
"Trinity had already," Quatre tried to find the right wording for the brunette's actions,  
"taken care of the threat."   
  
More silence ensued before Quatre finished. "And we dragged her and ourselves to  
the garage where we found Trowa waiting with both you and Hannah looking pretty bad in  
the backseat of the vehicle." He hung his head. "We're still not sure on Hannah's status at  
the moment. She hasn't stabilized yet."  
  
The Braided One did his best impression of a sea bass; his mouth hung open, eyes  
wide, and his arms made funny wavy motions at his side as he attempted say something,  
but everything that he thought of to say didn't sound right after he ran it through his head.  
Finally, he stopped his fishyness and mustered up the gall to ask, "How is Trinity taking all  
of this?"  
  
Heero turned towards his fellow pilot and declared, "She wont talk about what  
happened between Nadir and her, and she's pretty shaken up that Hannah isn't doing  
well."  
  
"And she throws the pillows at you when you try to get near her."  
  
"Actually," Quatre clarified," I believe that's just you, Wufei, and that really isn't much  
of a change in behavior."  
  
"She called the nurse in and required that one of the doctors castrate me as well.  
That girl hasn't got an ounce of sanity left in her," the Chinese pilot spat.  
  
Duo smirked and replied,"Then she's obviously doing just fine. The same as usual."  
He added, with a hint of mockery,"Not that there would have been anything for the nurses to  
remove anyway."  
  
"You're nothing but a brainless twit, Maxwell!" Wufei growled. "You don't even  
understand the graveness of war enough to be serious for five minutes. There's not an  
ounce of sense left in that mesh of hair that you–"  
  
"Hey now!" Duo sat back up, slowly as to not cause too much pain. "Them's fightin'  
words! You get over here, and I'll show you who's the brainless twit, you kung fu fool!"  
  
"All of you be quite." Heero's deep voice rang through the room which again gave  
way to silence. "We're not here to name call or start fights that we couldn't win even if we  
tried–"  
  
"Hey now, Yuy!" Duo's outcry was silenced by the death glare Heero shot over at the  
wounded pilot.   
  
"Heero's right, everyone. The most important thing right now is our plan for the  
future. Nadir is dead, and we still have no further clues to go on to find out who is leading  
this war. The war is our first priority, and right now there is nothing that we can do about it in  
the situation we have been given. The second thing that we have to decide on," Quatre's  
face became even more serious as he continued, "is what is going to be done about Trinity  
and Hannah."  
  
"They've served their purpose," Wufei declared in a matter-of-fact manner. "Trinity is  
no longer of any use to us as her connection with the war has ended." He stood up out of  
the chair he had been sitting in. "We no longer have any reason to stay around them any  
longer."  
  
"Wufei," Quatre's light blue eyes had grown large with his friend's bluntness of  
impartial feelings towards the two,"surely you can't mean that." But Wufei's face held it's  
seriousness, and Quatre slowly realized what he was saying.  
  
"Why involve them in a war that has nothing to do with them directly any longer?"  
Heero was staring straight at his blonde friend on the bed and taking in Quatre's reaction.  
"They're not meant for the battlefield."  
  
"Yes, but..."Quatre's hands formed fists as he stared back into Heero's, then  
Wufei's eyes. "We can't just leave them completely alone. They have no where to go now.  
Nadir's followers will be looking for them, especially Trinity, and I just wouldn't feel right  
leaving friends out on the streets without any protection!" He faced Duo. "What do you  
think?"  
  
Duo's face became very pensive, a very weird expression for the usually  
thoughtless one. "I think we should stay with them briefly until they get on their feet, and then  
leave once we figure out what exactly we're going to do about this war."  
  
"Maybe one of the brain cells in that mess have actually come to life," Wufei chided  
from across the room where he now stood.  
  
"Bring it on, Wu-wu! You know, I think Hannah has had an effect on your come  
backs. They're starting to take on a feminine style to 'em."  
  
Wufei was saved the trial of thinking up a good comeback as Trowa picked that  
moment to walk into the door. The banged pilot stood for just a second, large circles under  
his green eyes as if he had been staying awake for many long hours, which, the other pilots  
suddenly realized, he had been. He was the one who had decided to watch Hannah's  
progression and inform everyone when something happened, and that had been three  
days ago. He hadn't slept more than a quick nap or two a day for that span of time, and it  
was starting to take it's toll.   
  
His face suddenly came to life if only just a little. "The doctor said that she could  
wake up any moment now. Her brain patterns have stabilized, and it looks as if she might  
be coming back." The four in the room exchanged glances, and Wufei and Heero dashed  
for the door leaving Quatre and Duo to figure out their own way to make it to the girls'  
room.   
***  
  
She didn't exactly know where she was, but it was warm and inviting, so much unlike the  
place she had just been. Where had she just been? Oh, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered  
now. She felt safe as if the very air around her was hugging her close; nothing could hurt  
her here. A vision of a sharp explosion flooded her vision, but she quickly pushed it away.  
She wasn't going back to that for sure. The white walls of her room were very comforting,  
and the floor seemed to be very soft and squishy. Particularly for concrete.   
  
She felt the ground with her hand and realized that the ground wasn't ground at all,  
but many Chex pieces that she was sitting on. I must have spilled them everywhere, she  
mused as she plucked a white square piece out of the thousands that lay around her. Now,  
if only I had some caffeine.   
  
A face flashed in front of her eyes, and it felt as if it was a face that should be  
familiar. But the brunette held nothing in her memory, so Hannah just shrugged it off and  
continued to eat the floor.   
  
Perhaps she shall bring me some caffeine because there is no way that I'm going  
to leave here. The only thing that would make this place better would be ice cream with  
sprinkles. The blonde pondered that for a minute before wondering if the brunette was  
going to bring her any ice cream either.   
  
Her stomach growled, and then it spoke to her.   
  
"Hello there," her stomach said.   
  
Greetings. She found that she didn't need to speak with her mouth for her voice to  
be heard. How nice. So much less work.   
  
"How are you doing?" Her organ inquired.  
  
Just fine. She picked up a handful of sprinkles which she now found on the floor.   
  
"Wake up." The stomach ordered.  
  
No. Thank you, though.  
  
"Hannah, wake up."  
  
My name is not Hannah. You of all people should know that being as you're my  
stomach, she informed it.  
  
"Please, Hannah. Open your eyes."  
  
It was then that she figured out it wasn't her stomach talking to her anymore at all,  
but rather someone on the other side of the white walls. Leave me alone. You can't have  
my sprinkles! She yelled at whoever was ordering her around.   
  
"HANNANNAH!!"  
  
It was then that the cold came, rushing down on her as if she was drowning in a  
frozen lake. She couldn't breath and there was nothing that she could do about it except  
scream, but no sounds came out of her mouth. A bright light blurred her vision, and her  
eyes snapped open for the first time in three days.  
  
Where the hell was she? She glanced around the room as she slowly sat up. Her  
fingers went directly to her pounding head and found a rather large bump on the back of  
her head. After her eyes had adjusted to the bright light, her nose caught the rubber and  
airplane food mesh of what she guessed was a hospital. A nurse was standing next to her,  
watching some monitors that sat next to the bed with interest, and there were other people  
in the room. Five boys, none of which had any hint what so ever of fashion sense, and the  
brunette who she had figured in her comforting world would eventually bring her caffeine.  
Or better yet, ice cream.  
  
"Hannah..." The brunette's eyes got cloudy for a brief second before the tall,  
Amazon girl came charging at her and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug.  
  
"Huh?" She was clueless. What was going on? "Hannah?" She stared over the girls  
shoulder at the guys who were regarding her with a new interest. Except the one in the  
really tight pants; what was with his hair? Was that NATURAL??  
  
"Yes, Hannah, duh. Don't be an idiot! Oh, it's so good to have you back. I almost  
had to have Wufei castrated. He gets rather cheeky when you're not around to keep him in  
check and–"  
  
"Who's Wufei?" She asked the brunette with genuine interest. It's not everyday when  
you have someone castrated.   
  
The Amazon girl released her from her hug, and her brown eyes bore into the blue  
ones. "Wufei...you know...Wuffaggot, Wu-wu, Wu-chan, Chang-chang-changitty-chang-  
chang...?" Her voice held something that was creeping up on the fearish side.   
  
Now she was getting angry. Who the hell were these people and what were they  
doing in her room? They were all asking the most ridiculous questions ever. "You're all  
nuts. What are you? Traveling performers?"  
  
"Hannah, I–"  
  
"Et arrete m'appeler Hannah, for Christ's sake! Je m'appelle SAMANTHA. Get it?!  
My name is Sam, so stop it with the Hannah talk." She crossed her arms across her chest  
and mused about what in the world language she had just spoken. It sounded kinda  
Italienish.   
  
"Guys," The boy with the really long braid started," I think she lost her memory."  
  
"Merci buckets, Mr. Obvious." The brunette responded.  
  
Just then, they were all interrupted by the nurse next to the blonde's bed who chose the  
moment to strike up a conversation with no one. "I know Mamo-chan. . . we'll go home right  
after I clear this girl for leaving. . . . . . . . yes I'll bake you cookies. . . . much better than that--  
---other girl." She turned to the other five in the room. "Oh hey, this is Mamo-chan,  
everyone. Sorry for not introducing you all earlier." She pointed to the thin air next to her.  
  
"Hi Mamo-chan. Have you met Nataku?"The Chinese youth asked the space beside the  
nurse.  
  
"Nataku?" The brunette whispered to the blonde guy standing just behind her.  
  
"Don't ask," he replied and gave her a plastered smile.  
  
"THAT IS THE LAST STRAW!" 'Samantha' stood up quickly out of her bed. "First you call  
me Hannah, then you hug me -randomly I might add-, and then, the so called nurse goes  
around and talks to thin air, only to be joined by Mr. I-use-too-much-hair-jell over here! I'm  
tired of your looniness! GET OUT!"  
  
"But you are Hannah," The brunette tried to explain. "Hannah Date. You have a  
change sock. You like to beat me with it. Caffeine....anything ring a bell?"  
  
"No. I'm Samantha, and you're, well, I can't remember," Samantha declared. " I've never  
even seen you before!!"  
  
All jaws dropped to the floor.   
  
"You're kidding, right?" The brunette asked, now completely phased. "I'm Trinity. They're  
Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and well, the before mentioned Wufei. Come one, Hannah,  
snap out of it! You're kidding...right?"  
  
"No. What is up with you people?!"  
  
Silence had made it's way from the boys' room and into the girls' room by this time.  
Everyone was staring straight at Samantha, no one really sure what to say. This was not  
something that the guys had figured into their plan at all, and Trinity could feel her  
composure that she had worked up after killing Nadir slipping away. Without her close  
friend, she wasn't sure that she could handle this. She had planned on talking to her about  
it once she woke up (and had her caffeine of course), but now that just didn't seem  
possible as 'Samantha' couldn't seem to remember anything about what had happened.  
Or who she really was for that matter.  
  
"You seriously don't remember us?" Trinity slowly asked the figure on the bed who she  
KNEW was Hannah, but who thought otherwise.  
  
Everyone waited in ernest for the answer to the question, half expecting a laughing  
response of "of course I remember you! You guys are so gullible" and hoping against the  
opposite.  
  
*** 


	14. New Acquaintances

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Fourteen

"New Acquaintances"

By Magic and Little Fairy From Nam

  
  


"You know, the jell-o really isn't all that bad after a couple of days. It losses that 'plastic, I've been bottled in a hospital next to hazardous drugs' taste sooner lately, don't you think?" The brunette attempted to catch the attention of the blonde sitting next to her. 

But the blonde just mumbled something about how hospitals were defiantly giving illegal drugs to their patients in their sleep and continued to watch the television in front of her bed. Trinity sighed deeply and spooned another helping of green jell-o into her mouth. 'I hate green jell-o,' she thought as she took another bite, 'but the way they feed us here, you'd think they were training us all to be anorexic. What I wouldn't do right now for some of Hannah's spaghetti.' 

She glanced over at her friend who was now bashing the remote control violently against the side of the bed as it had gotten jammed on the weather cannel again. That wasn't really Hannah though. As Trinity had found out over the past two days after the blonde had waken up, Hannah was gone and Samantha had taken her place. 'Stolen her body' was actually the phrase Trinity deemed the best in describing the situation. It was as if Hannah had flown off somewhere and left someone else to house keep for her body; perhaps that wasn't so far from the truth. Trinity had talked to one of the doctors and explained that they had all been in a terrible car accident. The doctor told her it wasn't too uncommon for people to loose their memories after a traumatic event.

Trinity was quite sure that being chased around by the poster child for psychotic disorders could be placed in the 'traumatic event' folder. She now believed that her late-step-brother Nadir would have been any psychologists dream; a fortune in the making for a therapist. 

A small shiver ran up and down her spine at the thought of her brother and her hand instinctively reached out and touched the stitches that ran down her leg where he had stabbed her. 'Let's think about something happier than that,' she mused as she attempted to envision happy sheep running through a green field. Puppies, kittens, giant smiley faces; anything would have been better than the image that replayed itself over and over in her head. 

"He's dead. Get a grip," Trinity hissed at herself under her breath as she rubbed her temples with her fingers.

Samantha glanced over at the brunette crouched in the bed next to hers; what in all hell was her problem? Every once and awhile she seemed as if she was going to have a nervous breakdown, and for some odd reason, she felt as if she was going to have one too. After two days of talking to the brunette, who's name was Trinity Renada or something like that, she wasn't sure whether her room mate was completely wacko or whether it was just the painkillers that were doing it to her. 

And then there were the guys. The first thing that she had realized about those five was that none of them had any fashion sense. At all. Spandex? She wasn't exactly she felt comfortable with that. It was like guys in tights, only not as tightish. On that note, she remembered that she despised tights; the epitome of all evil really. And you could never be too careful with them. They were always in a position to bite your ass. 

She blinked, unsure if that was actually a lost memory returning to her or if she was just going a bit wackish herself from the effects of the painkillers. The others had insisted over and over again that her name was actually Hannah and they seemed to have plenty of memories and stories to back up their statements. The only problem was that she didn't remember any of them. Then again, she didn't remember anything except for that she enjoyed sprinkles, Chex mix, and just now, that tights were something to avoid in the future. It was just those few things and the name Samantha that she clung to. Maybe, in all reality, Sam wasn't her real name, but it was the only thing that she had left, so everyone was just going to have to deal and drop the Hannah stuff. 

"Damn weather channel," she swore under her breath. The least they could do on the weather channel would be to play good music, but even that seemed to elude the forecasters. They really couldn't get anything right. "I," she bashed the remote over the bed rail, "just" THWUAP! - the remote hit the wall behind her head "want to watch" DING!! - she smashed it against the railing again "something other than the weather!" SCHITZ!- clunk. The remote fizzled on the floor where it landed after Samantha had chucked it over at the wall. 

The blonde crossed her arms in defiance, and then realized that the channel had actually changed. She was now watching some really wrinkly old man with a southern accent give the news. His voice stretched out monotonously over the room, and she felt her eyelids dropping. 

"What an improvement," she grumbled just as a loud beep came from the screen. Her blue eyes snapped open and locked on the newscaster.

"This just in," he continued the newscast in the same monotone voice as if nothing in the world could ever surprise him, "Nadir Renada has been reported dead. Murdered in his late-father's house along with eighty-three of his soldiers, his body was found today by a backup squad of soldiers sent to check out what happened. Footage taken from the security cameras set around the house have confirmed that his killer was actually non other than his step-sister, Trinity Renada, the teenage girl who was also found guilty of murdering her mother and step-father just a few months before." A picture of Samantha's roommate flashed on the screen as the announcer continued, "The five Gundam pilots were also seen on the footage and are responsible for the deaths of the eighty-three soldiers. They are said to be armed and dangerous. It is thought that they hold fourteen year old Hannah Date in their custody. Hannah disappeared from school around the time of 'Aurora Adaner', the pseudo name that Trinity had been hiding under, and it is unknown whether she is conspiring with the murderers or if she was kidnaped. Any information about their whereabouts is requested by the Renada Foundation as they have been labeled rebels, killers, and disturbers of the peace. The Earth's Sphere Alliance on the other hand has not charged the seven with anything and has refused to comment on the subject, though Vice Minister Darlian was overheard saying she supported any who oppose those trying to overthrow the governments of the colonies." The old man ruffled his mustache. "Now, the weather for today was..."

Samantha blinked. Her picture, along with Hannah Date's name had been flashed on the screen. Not only that, but so had Trinity's and all five of the guys. What in all hell was going on here? Who the hell were they and what did they want with her? "You're a....a..." She turned to look over at Trinity, but found the bed empty. The brunette was instead standing right next to her bed, a large roll of duct tape outstretched over Sam's head. "What the h--!!!" The sticky grey substance covered her mouth. Her hands shot out in an attempt to both rip the tape from her mouth and shove Trinity away from her. 

"This is for your own good! You don't understand anything yet!!" Trinity struggled against the blonde's grip. It was mono-et-mono; survival of the fittest. But after a few months of spending time with Hannah's random attacks and change sock, Trinity had worked up quite a defense herself. If she had been fighting Hannah at that moment, true, she would have been tied up, bound, gaged, and whimpering for mercy in the corner, but Samantha didn't have Hannah's battle knowledge, thought Trinity had to admit her instinct was quite good. And she did know how to use Hannah's inch long nails to her advantage.This couldn't save the blonde completely though; it just delayed the inevitable. Limbs, clothes, and the random chuck of hair went flying as the two shot around the room, until all of a sudden silence ensued.

"Fhonsh I gesht oout off thish, you're su deash," Samantha screamed through the duct tape the covered her mouth. Her hands were bound behind her back and her legs were tied together (both with duct tape, bien sur). Her eyes narrowed on her forehead as she glared at Trinity hot enough to melt plastic.

"Listen. I had to. I couldn't have you go screaming around the hospital that there were murderers in your room an-"

"Sof you didsh murdersh 'em!?"

"NO! Okay. It's a really long story. I didn't kill my parents or anything," Trinity censored the fact that she actually had killed Nadir for now so not to completely creep out her friend's alter ego. "They guys, they're helping out the 'good guys', okay? The Renada Foundation wants nothing but to take over the colonies and split them up from the Earth. We don't know what they plan after that. They may even plan on destroying the Earth...but the guys are trying to keep that from happening. My brother was a bad breathed psycho with a really bad sense of style - not, mind you, that's an odd thing for most of the guys around here...--, and now he's gone but we still don't know who the leader of this is...ugh," she shook her head as Sam was still glaring uncertainly at her, "I'll explain it all later. Just know this: we didn't kidnap you. You and me are FRIENDS. If you don't believe anything else and you want me to be a psycho, ego-centric, serial killer, fine. But you're with us. Your friends. Chums."

Samantha narrowed her eyes more at Trinity. "Yoush exshpect mesh tof beliesh zat vhen I hash my moutsh couvershed wish duct tape?!"

Trinity sighed again. She reached over and gently as she could, removed the tape from Sam's mouth. "That better?"

"Much."

"I'm going to go get the guys. You just sit tight right here until I get back. We have to get out of her as soon as possible," Trinity glanced around nervously. 

"Mind undoing my arms and legs. I can walk too you know. Two legs here."

Trinity sat still for a second as if deciding what was the best way to do this. "You swear you wont run off or start screaming or anything?"

"If you want me to trust you, you're going to have to trust me."

"Good point."

"Of course."

"Alright. Fine then. Just don't run off. If Nadir's people got a hold of you, they could blackmail us all into giving ourselves up." Trinity quickly ripped the duct tape off Samantha before standing up and stuffing all of her belongings (and a bit of jell-o) into a sheet which she tied shut to hold everything.

Samantha rubbed her wrists and then her ankles before standing up. "Wow. I feel kinda...important and all." She gave Trinity a sly smile. "You're going to have to teach me that move where you flip someone over their head while duct taping them to the wall though. I must admit, that was quite good form."

Trinity smiled slightly. "Once you start to remember, you'll be able to do that better than I can. To Wufei actually, as easy as pie."

"Speaking of Wufei, did you ever actually get him castrated?"

***

His eyebrows furrowed on his forehead in an expression of deep concentration. His tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as his eyes scanned the playing board. He shifted his black pawn up two squares and sat back with a pleased expression on his face. 

"There! I'd like to see you match THAT move," Duo's voice rang through the white walls of the hospital room the five boys were roomed in. 

Wufei quickly shot his chess piece across the board and crossed his arms across his chest. "There." He smiled smugly. "Check mate." He swiftly snatched up his winnings from the table; Duo's rations of green jell-o and a candy bar that one of the nurses had given the braided pilot.

Duo's cobalt blue eyes bulged as he looked over at Wufei with disgust. "Cheater. You would have never won the game unless I hadn't let a few of those crazy moves slip."

"Actually, Duo, I've been watching and it was Wufei who let those 'crazy moves' slip from you." The blonde smiled innocently from across the room where he lay on his bed. Quatre sat up, flung his legs over the side of his bed, and tested to see whether or not his leg would support his weight. "I think it's about time we headed out," he declared to the other four pilots as he walked gingerly around the room. "We're all almost completely healed-"

"Hey! Speak for yourself!"

"-and we shouldn't stay here for any longer in case someone finds us." He gave Duo his best fatherly 'hush it' look and continued with his explanation. "Their going to be looking for Trinity...and I think it'd be best if we take Hannah--"

"You mean Samantha," Duo interrupted with again.

"--yes...Samantha... I think it'd be best to get her our of here and to a more-"

"Protected."

"-- no, Duo, secretive....well, a place where we can explain everything to her. You can never be too sure who is listening in a hospital." He glanced over his shoulder and nodded to one of the nurses who had been hanging around the door for a longer than was needed to check to see if everyone was in the room.

"I agree with Quatre. We're also not getting anything completed sitting here," Heero told the group. 

"I am." Wufei shot a smirk over at Duo. "I don't think I've ever won so many games of chess in my life." He nibbled on the candy bar for emphasis.

"You eat like a chick, Wu-less," Duo shot back. He sighed afterwards and nodded. "That...and I'm running out of comebacks. But still, we've only been here for five days and 'Hannamantha' just woke up two days ago. Would she really be ready to travel in, ah, her 'condition'?"

"As long as you don't annoy her to death, I think she'll be fine, Braidy," the girl's voice joked from the doorway as Trinity flew into their midst. She had her street clothing on and a bag made of sheets hanging by her side. Her face was flushed as if she had just ran all the way from the girls' wing, up the stairs, and into the men's, which, by the appearance of her wild hair, she had. "In fact, I think it'd be best if we left soon. As in, oh, how about the next five SECONDS." 

A blonde head popped into the room and Samantha took a look around. "I like what you've done to it. Very...late-barn I'd say," she commented as she saw all of the guys' belongings sprawled out over the floor, chairs, window, and shower. "It could do with some flowers though. Maybe some fake fruit as well. And a soft serve machine." She nodded.

All the time while she had been talking, Wufei had been slowly edging his way after from the doorway. "So. Who are you now? Is Hannah back yet?"

The other guys and Trinity couldn't help but notice his reaction. Trinity and Duo were just going to comment on it, but Quatre realized that the girls, especially Samantha, wouldn't have been up in their wing unless something was up.

"Why are the two of you here?" The blonde stepped forward towards the girls so he wouldn't have to talk to them from across the room.

Trinity smirked slightly. "We're famous, boys. On the news and everything."

"Psychopathic, killer Gundam pilots. Tsk-tsk-tsk. Not a good profession to go into these days. So little demand for it," Samantha chided from Trinity's side. The remark sounded so much like Hannah that the others had to remind themselves that she still had amnesia. 

"Well, if you'll excuse us," Duo hopped out of his bed and ushered the girls into the bathroom. Quatre and I have to change, then we'll get this train on the road." Before he shut the door, his stuck his braided head in and ordered, "No peaking."

"Being blind isn't one of my future goals in life, Duo," Trinity shot back as she crossed her arms defiantly. 

"Well said," Sam commented from where she sat on the edge of the sink.

Trinity's brown eyes centered on the figure. "Thank you...you know...it's really odd. You talk and act almost exactly like Hannah, and yet--"

"I'm not?"

"Yeah." Trinity took a seat next to her on the toilet; it wasn't exactly a pretty toilet-good god not again. "Maybe you're just playing a really cruel joke on us all."

"Listen, kid, I swear to the god of pants that I haven't a clue who I am. Or who you are, for that matter." Samantha rubbed her wrists gingerly where the duct tape had left its mark; friend or not, Trinity was going to pay for that when they got out of this hospital. It was like being attacked by a five foot six inch tall wombat with a vengeance for blonds.

A brunette head stuck through the doorway. "We're leaving now. You two will probably want to get ready."

"Ready for what exactly, Trowa?" Trinity inquired suspiciously as she took a step towards the back wall of the bathroom.

Heero pushed the door open and swiftly grabbed Trinity's wrist. "We're going to have to go out the fire escape," he informed her as he dragged her towards the window.

Samantha blanched as she heard the swear words and what sounded like multiple punches erupt from the other room. She stuck her head around the corner only to be lead by the magic haired on towards the window.

"You're not afraid of heights, are you?" The one with slicked back black hair asked her jeeringly. A small smirk rounded the corners of his mouth.

The blonde shrugged. "Well, if I am, I wouldn't be able to remember it."

The magic haired one, who she believed was named Trowa, nodded with approval and pointed towards the escape. "Quatre's already started down there." The pair glanced over at the frenzy struggle that was going on between Heero and Trinity. "She will be going last as it's going to take everything we've got to get her out of the window. I'll be following you, so if you need any help just ask." He pushed back the window blinds for her so that she could step through the window. "Try to be as quiet as possible. It seems they already know we're here."

Samantha nodded silently and hopped onto the metal platform, to be followed close behind by the green eyed Trowa, then Wufei, leaving Heero, Trinity, and Duo in the room. 

"Why didn't you bring the tranquilizers?" Duo demanded of Heero jokingly. He stood in front of the pair, arms crossed, and eyes filled with amusement as he gazed at the struggle. Heero grunted (as only Heero can) in a way that told Duo his joke was not appreciated.

At Duo's sarcasm, Trinity stopped struggling for a second and was held suspended from Heero's outstretched arms which held her up from under her armpits. Being as she was taller than the pilot, she was surprised that her feet didn't quite reach the ground, but she didn't worry about that at the moment. She kicked out her leg in an attempt to hit Duo in the stomach, but the lean pilot neatly dodged her move.

"I've had to jump off a cliff. I've been thrown out of a window. And before my life turned into a living circle of hell...I hated heights to start with!! There is no way that I'm going out there!! You'll have to carry --- HEY!"

In the middle of her speech, Duo had walked on over and grabbed her. He now held her like a small child as he quickly hopped through the window and onto the fire escape platform before Trinity could realize what was going on. Now out on the platform, she clung onto Duo's shirt with the Grip-o-doom as she wasn't going to step out there on her own.

"Yo-you can't be serious!" She exclaimed in a hushed shout so as not to attract attention from the street below. She looked down over the side to see Quatre at the bottom, waiting for them, and Wufei, Samantha and Trowa several stories below them. "It's at least twenty stories or so....no...I'd rather-"

"Rather what?" Heero asked from beside her. "We can leave you here if you want it that way, but the soldiers will show up any second. I am sure, though, that for a Renada as yourself, they would give you a royal welcome." Pilot 01 continued his way down the sets of ladders and platforms, leaving them at the top.

The two blinked in confusion and then looked at each other.

"Did Heero just attempt to make a joke?"

"Maybe he was being sarcastic."

"Sarcastic? I thought he just grunted and said 'mission accepted'."

"That's usually-ow! You're getting heavy you know! Wufei is never going to let you hear the end of this if you stay up here."

Trinity jumped out of Duo's arms and pushed him away from her. "I'm just fine now, thank you. Wufei and Hannah, when she comes back that is, don't need to know about this." She lifted her chin defiantly and started down the ladder, arms shaking and teeth chattering. "I hate you all. Why is it always the fire escape."

"Because it's usually the only way out."

"It's so damn cliche." She stepped onto the next platform. "You know, if I was writing a story or something, they would NEVER get out through the fire escape."

"Oh yeah," Duo plopped down beside her and pointed at the next ladder, "then how would they get out?"

"They'd plant some magic beans and grow a really large beanstalk." She shivered as she began down the next ladder. "With an elevator."

"An elevator. Of course."

"Or maybe they'd just sprout wings and fly away."

She heard Duo give a snort from above her as she started on the next ladder. "Or maybe...maybe they'd just walk out the front door. Or take out a nurse and all dress up like nurses and just...ah...walk out the front door."

"Never become a writer."

She yanked on his foot and he came crashing down besides her on the second to last platform. "That wasn't very gentlemanly."

Duo gave her a flashy grin as he waved his arms in the air. "Since when was I a gentleman in the first place."

"Point well taken," Trinity quipped as she started on the last ladder than went to the ground. "But now," her feet touched solid ground and she resisted the urge to kiss it and pet it lovingly as Wufei was watching her closely, "that we have escaped all cliche like, where now?"

"I've contacted an friend who's agreed to take you in for a few days," Quatre explained as they headed for the alleyway. "Their house is a little far, but we can't chance taking a cab at the moment. I hope you all don't mind the walk."

Trinity and the others followed behind their strategist quietly for a few blocks before the brunette finally got it into her thick skull what Quatre had said. 

"You said take 'you' in. Where are you five going to be staying? You're just leaving us?" Trinity's voice became slightly panicked, but she covered it well as she didn't to have a nervy spaz right in front of Wufei.

Quatre's face flushed a bit as he turned back to look at her. "Well, we're going to stay with the two of you a couple of days to get you situated. After that, one of us will stay behind with you at the house for awhile while the others are out trying to, uh, well, figure out our next plan of action."

"So, you're just going to keep one of you five there to...to..."

"Babysit," Samantha shot in for her.

"Good word for it." Trinity wasn't sure how she felt about this recent change. She was beginning to feel like a burden to the guys. 

"We want to be sure that nothing will happen to you, but don't take it too harshly," Heero told her. "We have to leave in order to get things done."

"And there is no way that we're you two with, especially in Han-Samantha's state," Wufei informed the two girls. 

"Hey, I'm not in a 'state'. You all speak as if my limbs were dangling off my body and my brain was slowly being eaten by a strange disease." Samantha regarded their confused stares. "Which, by the way, it is NOT. Sheesh. It's like talking to a pack of five year olds." She and the others went silent for the remaining walk. 

It took until the sun was almost hidden beneath the buildings for the septet to finally reach the house Quatre was leading them to. It rested in a typical suburbia neighborhood. The ones where all the families had a dog, a cat, two cars, and a swing set in the backyard for their average 2.34 children to play on. All of the houses looked exactly the same except a window change here or there or perhaps a different color of metal siding, and the families would sit on their back porches and have BBQ every Saturday night in large groups. 

Trinity looked at the house they were walking up to; it looked completely normal to her. Blue siding, a small front porch with a few steps, split level house with a basketball hoop in the driveway. "Talk about mundane," she mumbled to Duo who nodded.

Pilot 04 reached for the doorbell and rung it once. He stepped back a little to make room for the door to open. The door was answered very quickly and the seven found themselves being rushed into the house by a girl not much older than they were. 

"You all made it! I was so worried you'd get caught along the way or something, but I made some supper just in case you didn't," a seventeen or eighteen year old blonde said excitedly. "Whoops! Yikes, almost forgot that the two of you don't know who I am. Name's Tina Rudevic." Without stopping to take a breath, the young lady continued with. "Did you know that you seven have been on TV all day long. Seems as if you've become quite famous these past few hours. The news station even said that the true leader of the Renada Foundation is going to make a speech about it in just a few--"

"What did you say?" Heero took a step towards the girl.

"Ah," she flushed a bit, "the leader. He's going to finally come out in the open soon they said."

"When's soon?" Trowa inquired earnestly.

"They, ah, said Monday."

The atmosphere in the room became more relaxed. "That's not for another three days!" Duo exclaimed. "And here I thought we were finally going to get a chance to see the guy and we have to wait another THREE DAYS!"

"Patience is a virtue," Wufei informed as he leaned up against a wall.

The girl looked between Wufei and Duo uncertainly before saying, "Well, let me get you all ready for supper. I'm sure you guys have had a ruff day, so let me show you to your rooms."

"Our rooms?" Trinity whispered to herself. "I don't want to be sitting around here. I don't want to be babysat." She frowned as she watched the backs of her friends exit towards the stairs. "I want Hannah back. I want the way things were before that damn mission." She kicked the wall sharply with her foot only to cringe as the pain seared through her big toe. She gingerly stepped towards the others and the stairs. "And if I was ever normal, I'd like to be normal again."

"Normal?" Duo had caught the last phrase of her conversation she had been having with herself. "You have never been normal. No Renada I have met yet has had a complete set of marbles."

She glared. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."


	15. Samantha

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Fifteen 

"Samantha"

By Magic and Little Fairy From Nam

There was something so wrong with someone being able to eat, what seemed to Trinity, a full side of cow, six potatoes, three bananas, and two pieces of apple pie (not to mention the three glasses of cider that were downed), and then still go to the fridge seconds after the table was cleared. Samantha seemed to be sharing her thoughts as well; the two girls eyed the braided pilot wearily as he rummaged around for something to munch on and held up a bag of chips with a smile.

"What?" He inquired of their horrified stares. Shrugging, the blue eyed one flopped down on the couch next to Heero, who refused the chips he was offered with a grunt, and chomped noisily on the cheesy goodness. "It's not like Hannah never finished off anything like that."

Trinity glanced at the lean, fourth-grade-ish figure of her friend (who, at the moment, was going by the name of Samantha) and realized that in this case looks were very deceiving; even though she was 15 years old, her blonde friend looked as if she was still in elementary school because of her stick-figure and short stature, but Trinity had witnessed how much noodles Hannah could down in one sitting and then go for about a quart of ice cream afterwards. 

Samantha was also glancing down at herself in wonder. "You mean, I eat like he does, and I still look like this?!"

Trinity laughed and then nodded as she went over to sit on the floor in front of Tina's television. Though they had arrived only a few hours before, she was feeling slightly better about staying at Tina's house. Though she still felt a bit like a burden to the guys, she realized that it wasn't so bad at the house. Not only was it quite spacious on the inside, had comfy beds, a hot tub, and a huge kitchen (which, if Hannah would have been present in her true form, she would have never of left), but their hostess was an excellent cook. There was nothing like good food to follow up a cliche escape and stealthy walk through the colony. Except for maybe a massage and orgasmic ice cream.

Trinity made a mental note to get some ice cream the next day as Samantha took a seat next to her; the two glanced up at the TV just in time to catch another news report on their escape from the hospital and more information on the bounty placed on their heads. 

With a small cough, Samantha turned her head towards Trinity and asked loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear, "So, what exactly is up with you guys anyway? What happened with this Nadir guy and why are their prices on your heads?"

"Eh..." Trinity's heart leapt from her chest. Gaging and coughing noises from behind her told her that Duo had choked on a chip and was attempting to dislodge it from his throat. The others in the room seemed to feel the tension in the air as well.

"Well, look at the time." It was about eight o'clock. "Time for me to hit the sack." Tina hopped to her feet and gave them all a smile. "Bye now! See you all in the morning." She speed from the room as if all hell was going to be unleashed upon them all. 

  
  


"Eh..." Trinity repeated as it seemed the only thing that would come out of her mouth. She hadn't even told the guys what had happened that night with Nadir. It seemed as if her wounded leg was throbbing even more than usual; she couldn't start to grasp what was going on. 

Quatre came to her rescue though as he explained, "I don't think it would be best to speak about that at the moment."

"In other words," Wufei snarled from the chair he was sitting straight up in, "I don't think that we need to tell you what's going on. Who knows who you might run off and blab all of our secrets to." He snorted with disgust. "You two girls really are becoming quite a problem to look after."

"Now, Wufei-!" Quatre started to scold as he stood up from the couch where he sat on Heero's other side. 

"Wufei may have spoken some truth, Quatre," Heero declared. "Sam doesn't know anything about us five, and we should probably leave it that way for the moment until things cool down a bit." He gave Trinity a purposeful stare as if daring her to inform her friend of what was going on. 

Trinity though, didn't require the stare to make up her mind. She wasn't ready to explain everything yet; she would rather have all of her toenails ripped out of her feet one by one with a pliers than replay what had been going on during the past few months at the moment. She had attempted to jolt Sam's memories with funny stories about what her and Hannah had done, but nothing about Nadir or the war had ever popped into their conversations. "Eh..." She glanced apologetically at Samantha.

"Fine. FINE." Samantha stood up. Trinity hunched her shoulders a bit and winced; it seemed as if even though Sam couldn't remember who Hannah, her real self was, she still kept her temperament. "If you all just want to leave me out in the dark then FINE. So be it. But," she stated, her eyes meeting everyone's in the room, "I'm not going to deal with this quietly."

Trinity winced as she saw the evil smirk that played on Samantha's lips; she wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to figure out what Sam was thinking of doing to them all until she found out what was going on. For a moment she wondered if telling her about it all would be less painful than what was to come (even Trin gets to have a correct thought once or twice).

As the blonde stomped angrily from the room, the other six waited for the first one to break the silence. It so happened that the silence breaker was Sam's door slamming loudly from the upper floor; after the silence had officially been heard, Quatre cleared his throat.

"I think we did the right thing."

"I think we did the stupid thing," Duo grumbled as he tossed a chip into his mouth.

Trinity had finally found her voice, turned to Duo, and opened her mouth to speak.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. 'Thank you, Captain Obvious'," Duo quoted as he chucked a chip at the brunettes forehead. "Well, you seem to be rather quiet about this whole thing, Trowa."

"I think we should have told her. It could of helped her to remember parts of what happened," the banged pilot admitted his opinion as he straightened his legs, slid off of the arm of the chair, and wandered into the kitchen.

"Oh," Duo remarked smartly and popped another chip into his mouth. "Welsh, dere's noshin' we cun du 'bout ish now." He swallowed and popped his head up over the back of the couch to look into the kitchen. "Sheesh, Tro. Are you hungry already?" Trinity stifled a mocking laugh.

"Coffee," came the one-word reply. Silence enveloped the room once again. One by one, everyone left to go off and do something or other besides Duo who was bent on finishing the whole bag of chips and watching TV. Soon, the smells of caffeine began to waft about the house. 

***

Something smelled really good. Coffee was obviously being brewed in the kitchen and Samantha was as hungry for caffeine as rabid bitch out for flesh. She sat up in her green bed that Tina had appointed as hers and walked across the squishy carpeted floor to the door. Opening it just a crack so she could check to make sure that no one was in her way on her sprint to the kitchen, she peered with her light blue eyes out onto the upstairs hallway. No one. With a quiet thanks to the Caffeine gods, she sprinted down the stairs, skid across the slick wood floor, and came face to face with the tall, gangly (yet Rambo - have you seen him in Endless Waltz?!) Trowa who was sitting at the island in the kitchen, sipping his coffee out of a green mug.

"Is it done yet?" Samantha inquired sharply; she still wasn't in a very good mood after being refused a past and her plans for revenge were just beginning to form in her head (had she been Hannah, she would already have the plans and have executed them - but, as we know, Hannah is a pro).

"No," Trowa put simply as he took another sip of what Sam realized was just water. 

"When's it going to be done?"

Trowa just shrugged and took another sip; he knew better than to tamper with Hannah when she was angry and figured that Sam couldn't be that much different. She was, after all, just like Hannah without a memory. 

"Don't you ever talk?" Samantha was getting desperate for someone to say something, anything to her. She was tired of everyone avoiding explaining things to her, and then this magic-haired fella has to come along and not bother saying anything!

Trowa just kept drinking. 

"Come on! Just say something!! Gal, you're probably to dumb to talk," Samantha ridiculed. She looked the boy up and down, stopping on his pants, or lack of them (the fact that they're tight---not that he didn't have any on - I mean, come on, can anyone see Trowa sitting naked, sipping out of a coffee mug in a ...nevermind). "Can your pants get any tighter?"

To Sam's complete amazement, Trowa blushed slightly, turned towards her, and asked,"My... pants?" 

"Look at them! Can you feel anything below your waist?!" She pointed right at his tight jeans and shook her head in a confused manner. 

He blushed even redder, but nodded towards the coffee machine. "The coffee should be ready now. The ready light is on."

"Don't try to change the subject on me, mister! I -- Oooo! Caffeine!" The blonde sprinted over to the pot and started rummaging through the cabinets in search of another mug. 

"Third one to the right from the one over the sink," Trowa informed her as he too stood up and got out the sugar and creamer. 

"Uh- thanks," Hannah grabbed another green one from the cupboard and poured herself a cup of coffee. "You know," she said lightly, almost ashamed for her comments earlier, "I hate coffee."

Trowa's face didn't actually smile, but Sam could swear that the corners of his mouth were twitching. "In fact," she continued, "It's just that the nurses, even on threat of death, wouldn't give me anything with caffeine in it. Odd isn't it. I really don't know why I need caffeine...I just do."

"Hannah was always craving caffeine too," Trowa stated as he handed her the sugar and a spoon.

"Oh." Sam avoided looking up at the tall boy in front of her; she could almost swear she was blushing a bit. Why was she doing that? She could feel his green eyes burning into the top of her head. "Uh..." She felt like she had just acquired Trinity's vocabulary at the moment; it's just that she had suddenly realized how very attractive he was. The fact that his eyes were green didn't hurt either. "Eh...."

"Yes?" Trowa looked away from the blonde for a moment to stir in the creamer to his coffee. 

"Were you and Hannah, I mean me, well, good friends? It's just, you always seem to be, oh I don't know, understanding. Or something," Sam managed to choke out. 

"You saved my life," Trowa's eyes seemed to be laughing for him. 

"Oh. Good for me!" Sam laughed nervously as she stirred in the huge spoonful of sugar she had just added. 

It was then that she heard a snort from the living room and found Duo staring at the two caffeine addicts from over the back side of the couch, his face contorted in the most amused smile Sam and Trowa had ever seen. His ears had perked up to the subject about pants (who wouldn't?), and he had been listening in since then.

"You know, it's impolite to eavesdrop on conversations," Samantha growled as Duo flipped a nonchalant wave at the two and turned back to the TV, his braid hanging over the backside of the couch. 

Sam's blue eyes landed on the braid and then it hit her; it was so obvious! Why hadn't she seen this one before! Quickly, she grabbed the meat knife from the wooden block it resided in and stalked up slowly and quietly behind her prey. It was such a perfect time to do it too. "How lucky could I have gotten?' She thought as she reached the pilot and took a hold of his fifth appendage (his braid - no sick thinking here!).

Schling! Duo's scream of anger rang through the house.

"Oh well, hair grows back, you know!" Samantha informed Duo as he jumped off the couch and whirled around to face her, his face a mixture of rage. His hair now rested loosely around his shoulders as the other lengths of it resided in Samantha's hand. She flicked the braid to and fro mockingly in her hand. 

Duo speedily snatched the braid from her hands and opened his mouth as if to say something but then thought better of it and snapped it shut as he realized the others were pounding down the stairs. His face, which had been red, turned a shade of white at the teasing he knew he was going to receive if they found him like this. He bounded over the couch, slid to the front door, and took off down the street into the night. 

At the sight of Duo scrambling out to the door, Samantha burst out into uncontrollable laughter. The others had just made it to the room as she got control of herself once again. Quatre leapt to the front of the group and inquired, "What in the world happened?!"

Sam shot a look over at Trowa who was cleaning up his coffee that he had spilled all over the counter at his surprise and attempt not the laugh at the past occurrence; he gave her a small nod and she shrugged, "I haven't a clue. Maybe he ran out of chips and ran out to get more."

She strutted out of the room and back up to her bedroom as the others watched her with worry on their faces. When she reached the safe haven of her room, she chuckled a bit to herself and said, "One down, four more to go."

***

Trinity's eyes narrowed as she starred with unwavering resistance into the black orbs in front of her. 'I am a wall,' she thought, 'there is no way that he is going to get me to give in this time! Bricks. Sturdy, strong fastness, cement stuff. Beeee the wall.' "I was in the living room FIRST. It was MY idea to watch a movie, and therefore the movie that I want to watch is going to be WATCHED!"

"There is absolutely NO way that I am going to sit here while you watch anime! It's just a bunch of pretty boys running around pretending to be manly," Wufei spat back in her face. 

"And grunting," Quatre added from over on the couch where he was reading a magazine. 

"Fine then. Don't sit here," Trinity quipped over her shoulder as she knelt by the movie player and attempted to find the button to turn it on. "You'd do us all a favor that way."

Wufei's mouth hung open for a second before he took action and pulled Trinity away from the TV; she sprang to her feet and glared into his face. They stared at each other for a few moments when the other three in the room were bathed in a welcomed silence. It took a few more seconds after that before Wufei declared the obvious.

"We're not getting anywhere like this."

"No, Wuf-ee, we're not."

The Chinese pilot's right eyebrow twitched at the nick-name. "So, we're are going to have to fight like men - if that's possible for someone like you - to see who has the rights to the television."

"Bring. It. On," Trinity growled through clenched teeth, ready to spring on the boy in white at any second and wondering whether or not Hannah's change sock was in a reachable position; unfortunately she had no clue where the weapon was at the moment. 

Heero held up his index finger from where he was positioned at the island in the kitchen to show he had an idea. His fingers kept typing away on the laptop in front of him as he reveled his thoughts to the two. "If you want to battle it out like men, do it that way me and Zech's settled an argument once."

Wufei scoffed at the idea. "Mobile suit combat?"

"Rock-Paper-Scissors," pilot 01 informed him with a straight face. 

A tiny bead of sweat dripped down the side of Wufei's face as Quatre burst into a small fit of giggles along with Trinity. Trowa smirked a bit as he finished off his second cup of coffee with a long gulp and then set down the mug on the glass table. "Or you could tumb wrestle for it as well."

"I'm a tumb wrestling champ!" Trinity declared as she thrust out her fist towards Wufei, thumb raised, and assumed the ass-kicking stance. Wufei looked from her hand, back up to her face, then towards Heero, Trowa, Quatre, and then back at her fist. 

"This is ludicrous." He turned on his heels and headed out of the livingroom via the kitchen mumbling things about conspiracies and how a true man wouldn't be caught dead playing rock-paper-scissors. 

A huge grin spread over Trinity's face. "Scared, are we?! Running out on a challenge, Wu-wu!?! I thought you were a man!" Steam could be seen rising from Wufei's head as he finally exited into the hall practically shaking with anger; Trinity took this time to go into a overly loud rendition of "We are the Champions" before finally sitting on the floor and popping in the video. 

It took until the point in the video where the guy was thinking that he wasn't good enough for the girl (for the second time) because he had committed murder, so without explaining why he had broken up with the girl who immediately ran off, got captured, and was now being rape-kissed by the immensely sexy villain who was actually the main guy's long lost brother (twice removed) until Heero glanced up from his computer and over at the group in the living room. Trinity and Quatre were sitting inches away from the TV screen, both obviously immersed in the movie, while Trowa snored lightly from his horizontal nap position on the couch. 

"It's quiet," the brown haired pilot informed the others.

"Uh-huh. That's nice, Heero," Trinity returned, not taking her eyes off the screen as the hero burst into vision and whisked off the girl out of the evil minion's clutches. 

"Too quiet."

"Not with you talking it isn't," she said bluntly. 

Heero sighed; being subtle was obviously not going to work in this situation. "I mean that someone should go up and check on how Sam is doing." Both Quatre and Trinity pointed right at Trowa who just kept on snoozing comfortably on the couch. 

Heero coughed loudly, and the two turned around to realize that their friend wasn't exactly conscious. 

"You go do it," Trinity ordered Quatre as she turned her pointing finger towards the blonde. 

Quatre just shook his head. "You've already seen this. You've been quoting it all the way through. In Japanese. And you don't even know that language."

Trinity let out a sigh of resignation and stood up slowly only to find that both of her feet had lost the feeling in them. She growled as she stumbled drunkenly over to the doorway and into the hall, taking the blanket she had been wrapped up in before with her. She entered the dark hallway, trudged up the stairs, and was going to start looking for her in their room but was interrupted by a noise in one of the guys' rooms across the hallway. She crept stealthily (for someone with no feeling in their feet) around the corner and slid through the doorway. The room was obviously shared between Duo and Quatre as on one side everything was folded up nicely while the other side appeared to have some strange regurgitating disease. The only light that lit the room was created by the bathroom where the shadow of someone was moving around in there. Trinity quietly walked over to the door, wondering if Wufei also shared the room with the two others or if Duo was back.

She soon found out that neither was correct; it was in fact Samantha, standing hunched over a contact lens case, dropping some red food dye into the liquid solution. 'Well, someone is going to look a wee-bit possessed when morning runs around,' Trinity thought with a smirk and she started creeping her way back out of the room. 

Whether she breathed like a water buffalo or Sam had felt her gaze, Trinity didn't ever know. Either way, Sam had figured out Trinity or someone else had been there and moments before Trinity could duck fully behind the door again, she was hit squarely on the forehead with a solid, heavy, and very hard object with a lot of torque. Out of surprise and pain, Trinity fell over onto her back and before she could utter a word, a sock was rammed in her mouth and covered in duct tape. Soon her arms and legs were firmly covered in layers of duct tape as well.

"Sorry to do this, but ya know what? You scared the SHIT out of me when you pounced on me at the hospital!!" Sam declared quietly and evilly into Trinity's ear. "This should teach you a lesson." 

Sam grabbed Trinity's belt and heaved her into the boys' bathtub. It wasn't exactly the easiest process as Trinity kept flinging her ungodly long limbs everywhere, and she was quiet a large package to move for the smaller Sam, but the blonde worked her magic once again (she does have her ways). In about five minutes, Trinity had been flung into the small, porcelain tub. "Now, don't say a word about this to anyone okay?" Sam laughed as Trinity's eyes flashed with anger and tried to scream, but the sock served its function and all that could be heard were small whining noises. 

Samantha leaned down and tied Trinity's feet securely to the water spout so that there was no way the brunette could struggle to her feet without untying her feet first (which would prove to be very complicated as her arms were bound behind her back). "That's a good girl. You might want to take a nap 'cause believe me, you're gonna be here for a LONG time. Ciao." Sam grabbed the shower curtain and slid it shut.

Trinity tried to get her bonds undone, but it was obviously hopeless. She would just had to wait until somebody found her. 'Great, I'm going to be here forever,' she thought. Suddenly a horrible possibility hit her. 

'What if this is Duo's sock!!!'

***

Heero woke up and the first thought that entered his mind had to be something like 'food' (He really isn't that different from a normal person, ya know). He slowly sat up, rubbed his eyes clear, and walked to the kitchen, clad sexily in the usual: spandex and a green tank top. No one else was up besides Trowa, who was once again making a pot of coffee over in the corner of the counter. He slowly approached the pancakes that lay out on the table for him and the others and mumbled a thanks to Trowa in the kitchen. 

Trowa had been just adding some cream when he actually thought he heard Heero thank him. In surprise of how tired his friend must be, Trowa turned around and looked at the pilot. His eyes leapt out of their sockets as he saw what Sam had done to him. He had known that the blonde had been plotting ways of revenge against the other pilots, but he hadn't thought that she would have gone into different shades of pink to do so. He couldn't hold out his composure any longer.

The sound of Trowa's never before heard laughter brought Quatre, comb in hand, and Duo, who had returned late that night with a new braid a la extensions - toothbrush in mouth, into the kitchen. Quatre tried to politely stifle a laugh by disguising it with a cough at first, but that didn't work. The blonde pilot was soon leaning against the fridge laughing harder than ever. Duo just burst out laughing and ended up spraying everyone in flecks of toothpaste bubbles. Wufei, who entered moments later, just starred in shock at the brightness before him.

Sam nonchalantly walked in through the door and spied her great masterpiece. "That's a great color on you," she praised as handed him her mirror. Heero's face went blank. "It really is you, Heero. You know.... you do have at least fifteen minutes before that stuff becomes permanent. You just might want to take a second shower today."

Heero ran from the room with super hero speed and soon the sounds of his shower could be heard in the kitchen. The others made themselves calm down as much as possible before they gathered around the island for breakfast; it wasn't everyday that you got to see Heero with bright magenta hair though, and they were all cursing themselves for not randomly brining their cameras to breakfast. Trowa sat down next to Quatre, and the blonde turned to thank his pointy haired friend for breakfast. For the second time, Trowa's eyes leapt from their sockets. He almost laughed, caught himself, and let out a giggle instead. 

Quatre's face went white. "What did she do to me?"

"You're eyes are red."

"My - what?"

"They're red."

Duo leaned across the table and ended up showering them in pancakes this time instead of toothpaste as he went into a laughing fit. "You look like a little devil, Quat."

Wufei, who had found himself laughing histarically at Heero's pink hair, found that Quatre's prank wasn't as up to par as the first one was. "What happened, Sam? Run out of ideas? Red eyes aren't exactly a harsh punishment as apposed to pink hair."

The blonde simply smiled and explained. "Well, you see, Quatre really didn't do anything horrible at all, even though he supported not telling me. Heero, on the other hand pretty much made the idea of not informing me written in ink, so he got it worse. I overheard Trowa saying he believed you should have told me, so I didn't do anything to him."

"And Duo?" Wufei looked over at the braided pilot as if Christmas had come early as he waited to find out what she had done to pilot 02. 

"Already got him," Sam replied with a grin. "You missed it though. I've never seen a man run so fast. Well, perhaps Heero just now."

Suddenly at thought hit Wufei. 'What has she done to me?' He reached across the table to grab the mirror away from Quatre who was having quite an amusing time with his new contacts. He glanced in with a wince and then straightened up again. Everything seemed in order; nothing was out of place. He let out an inner sigh of relief and put the mirror down on the table. 

"Hey, Wu-wu, could you go grab me the milk from the fridge?" Duo inquired.

"After that, why the hell should I?" Wufei asked, his temper rising.

Quatre, who had picked up the mirror and was again musing about how very evil he looked with red eyes and wondering if that would give him an advantage in battle, reminded, "Because it's right behind you, and I would like some too if you please, Wufei."

Mumbling something about the injustices of breakfast, Wufei turned around in his seat and opened the steal fridge to grab out the milk. At that exact moment, the back of his head was visible to everyone at the table, and Wufei's eyes widened as everyone, including Trowa, broke out in hysterical laughter. 

"What did that damned woman do?!" He screamed as he spun around and faced the group, but the others could not answer him for another five minutes until their initial shock had worn off.

"She got you good," was all that Duo could spit out before returning to his fit of giggles and disappearing over the edge of the table as he double over with laughter. 

Quatre suddenly got a strangely plastered sympathetic look on his face, and he ordered Wufei with, "Just, ah, reach up and touch the back of your head."

Wufei's fingers gingerly touched the hair on the back of his head. His face went white as patches of shaved scalp met his finger tips. "What shape did she shave into my head?" He inquired, oddly composed for the second. 

"The female sign," Heero told him from behind him as the he poked Wufei's head with one hand and dried off his now normally tinted brown hair with a towel in the other.

Wufei's eyes seemed to have gone completely blank.

"You know, the one with the circle and then the plus like sign hanging on the bottom," Heero informed him as if he was reading the weather forecast for the day.

"She wont get me, oh no, not going to be beaten by a woman, and especially not that woman. This isn't the last that she's heard from me, oh no, I'm going to..." Wufei had stood up out of his seat at the table and was seemingly walking out of the room in a daze. A good long pause later "This is INJUSTICE!" echoed through the house, shaking the pans that hung from the ceiling in the kitchen.

Duo had finally found his control and popped his head up above the table again. "Where is she? I've got to congratulate her about this," Duo said, looking around the room, but the infamous Sam was no where to be found. The others shared confused looks as Tina entered the room and sat down at the table with everyone else. 

"Did I miss something?" She asked the four as she stabbed a pancake with her fork.

Heero shook his head and sat down next to Quatre. "Nothing at all."

***

Samantha was skipping with glee. Not just skipping. Skipping and humming with glee. She found it hard to hum "wow, yeah, wow, yeah, wow, wow, wow, yeah, yeah, yeah" though, so every once and awhile, her humming would turn into singing, the singing into dancing, and then the dancing right back into an oddly spunky skip. She had gotten Wufei good and all the modesty in the world couldn't have stopped her from admitting it: she was a god. 

A smile crept up over her lips. She was quite sure that when she returned that they were all going to be more than eager to tell her the history that she so longed to here. Or kill her. She was quite sure that they wouldn't actually go as far as killing her though (well, you never DID know about the one in spandex), but so far her plan had gone over perfectly so why shouldn't the end part? All that was left was to let them all cool down a little bit so she wouldn't get shot when she returned. Then ask them politely with a little threat of 'this is just the beginning' on the side to share their story with her, and then all she had to do was listen in on the past. 

She had to admit that she wasn't really keen on the idea of walking around the neighborhood for a few hours though. Even though it was the complete model of suburbia, the fact that she was wanted by the police for interrogation on the location of the boys and Trinity wasn't a good thing to have breathing down your neck all the time. That, and the sun was out. She burned really easily and didn't really feel like turning into a lobster. Just yet that is. 

'This figures,' she thought a few seconds later. ' I leave the house and what happens? I have to use the restroom.' "Thank you God, for a bladder the size of Lake Michigan. On the map! There has got to be a gas station around here somewhere. They haven't had enough time to cool off yet." She shuddered to think of what would happen if she returned only half an hour later and then pondered on whether or not they had found Trinity. 

The sun was right above her head before she finally reached a gas station and headed in which meant that it had to be about noon and that she had been walking around for two hours or so looking for a bathroom. The man at the desk was a little on the portly side and had a very disgruntled look about him. When Samantha asked for the key to the bathroom, the man just scratched his six o'clock shadow scruff on his face and shrugged.

"The woman's bathroom is out of order. Sorry, you're going to have to hold it until you find the next station."

Sam leapt forward and grabbed the greasy man by his white tee-shirt's collar. "YOU WILL GIVE ME THE KEY TO THE MAN'S BATHROOM OR I WILL RIP OUT YOUR NOSE HAIRS. One. By. One."

The man didn't seem a bit altered by this behavior, and he replied calmly, "The bathrooms are only for payin' customers." He pointed to a sign written in sharpy right behind him.

"But I haven't got any money!" Sam said with fear. She couldn't take another two hour walk back to the house without going to the bathroom.

She scuttled around the floor for something, anything! And then she found it. A quarter glittered on the floor over by the ice cream across the way. Tears filled her eyes as she thought she could burst with happiness as she scrambled over to the quarter. She scooped up the coin, grabbed the smallest piece of candy she could find, rang it up on the cash register herself, got herself the change, and grabbed the key off of the hook behind the man with the speed of a wombat with a fire under its tail. (Honest question: Do wombats have tails?) 

Three minutes later she emerged from the bathroom. "I have found nirvana," she mumbled joyfully to herself as she approached the counter. There were now two men talking to the man at the counter; all three of them seemed very engaged in the conversation, and, over come with curiosity, Sam decided to eavesdrop for just a minute. She dove down the cereal isle and ducked down behind a box of Lucky Charms. 

One of the unknown men were the first to speak. "You're sure that it's her in the bathroom?"

"Wha' do ya take me for? An idiot? I saw her. Payed for a Tootsie roll with a quarter she found on the floor and took off into the men's over there," the clerk paused, and Sam guessed he was pointing towards the bathroom.

"Well, we'll just see," the second man said and footsteps sounded in the next isle as one of the men had taken off towards the restrooms. 

"You are sure that it was Hannah Date?" The first man inquired for a second time.

"Now listen here. I saw her picture on TV and everything. Never did forget a face, I didn'. She is in there, mark my words! Now where is my reward for giving information?!"

"You'll get your reward when we find the girl."

'Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!' Sam thought as she peaked over to see whether or not the second man was coming back from the bathroom. He was still waiting by the side of the door, obviously not wanting to interrupt her from doing her business in the bathroom. 'Well, at least he was the decency to wait,' she thought as she looked towards the door. If only she could get there without them seeing her leave. Or hearing her leave for that matter. The door was equipped with a bell above it so it would sound if she opened it up. 

It was then that she spotted a car driving up to the door. A teenage boy hopped out of the red mobile and paused for a second to lock his car door. 

"It's now or never," Sam told herself. She grabbed the closest box of cereal and hid her face behind it as she emerged from the isle and reached the door just as the youth entered. She pushed her way passed him and chucked the box of cereal into his confused arms. 

"Hey! You forgot this!" The guy called after her as she sped through the parking lot as fast as her legs could carry her. 

"Merry Christmas!" She yelled back at him as she turned around the corner and glanced over her shoulder to see if the other two men were following her, but either they hadn't made the connection and were still waiting for her by the bathroom or they were even slower than her. She let out a sigh of relief as she continued on her way back to the house, this time careful to take the alleyways and stay off of main streets on her journey back. 

  
  


***

She was hungry; she was thirsty; she couldn't feel her feet which had been hanging higher than her legs for the past however many hours. Trinity was already in a foul mood when Duo decided that it was time for him to take a shower. Unfortunately for her, he had a habit (as most normal people do) not to glance in the shower to make sure that there wasn't a random person lying on the bottom, so when he entered the bathroom to take his shower, he turned on the water before noticing that Trinity was lying there. 

'I'm going to kill him. Slowly. And very, very painfully. It's going to involve cutting off his most favorite body parts and limbs and hanging them in front of him so he can gaze at them as he dies. Did I mention that he's going to do so sloooowly?' The brunette mused to herself as water dripped down her back and soaked her clothing. It was then that she heard the characteristic sounds of someone slipping out of their clothing, and her eyes widened. She could see his shadow on the shower curtain caused by the lights on the other side as he was apparently taking off his shirt. 

'This could get awkward.'

"Duo, you can you toss me my toothbrush?" Quatre called from outside the bathroom door. 

"Sure. Where is it?" Duo answered from, what seemed to Trinity, just inches away from her. 

There was a pause as Quatre seemed to be thinking about it. "It's not on the sink?"

Duo's silhouette had removed his pants and was just now taking off his boxers; Trinity felt herself blush slightly and moved her eyes away from the curtain to stare off at the shampoo bottle. Right next to the bottle though, she found herself eye-to-bristle with a yellow toothbrush.\

"Nah! It's not here!" 

"Then it's in the shower!" Quatre called over the sounds of the shower. 

"Oh, alright!" Duo called back. "Just let me throw on a towel first!"

Trinity released a sigh of relief as she glanced back and saw Duo's silhouette pull a towel around his waist. It wasn't until a few days after the fact that she had realized she could have just closed her eyes if he hadn't put anything on, but at the moment she was certainly happy that there were towels in the world. 

Right as Trinity was wondering what a nun would say if she asked to donate to the Towel Help Fund, Duo flung back the shower curtain and the two came face to face. He seemed a bit stunned by the fact that one of his friends, non the less a girl, as laying tied down and soaking wet in his shower. Then, after working its way through the mess of hair on his head, the thought hit brain cells.

"You know, we had all just guessed that you had been in on the pranks with Sam and had taken off with her." A very pleased grin was spreading across his face. "But I must admit. This is the best way to end this most amusing day."

Trinity's brown eyes shot daggers at Duo's head.

"How long have you been in here anyway?" Duo inquired through his laughter as he turned off the shower and then ripped off the duck tape from her mouth. After removing the sock he found also residing in Trinity's mouth, he got started with untying her legs from the water spout so that she couldn't hit him just yet for soaking her as he was sure she would try if he untied her arms first. 

Trinity took a few seconds to wet her mouth with spit as the sock had worked like a sponge and then spoke in a very raspy voice, "I don't know. Ever since they sent me up here to check on her."

"When was that?"

"Last night before you got back."

"I'd have to say around twenty hours then," Duo informed her with a snicker just as he finished untying her ankles. 

Trinity's temper surged. "Where is she?! I'll kill her!!"

"You're going to have to take a number and wait in line then." He helped her sit up. "Now, if you swear you wont hit me for turning the shower on, then-"

"Yeah, Mister I can't see right in front of my fac-"

"I could just leave you in here you understand. Retie your feet to the spout and then find some duct tape..." He threatened. 

Her eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."

He flashed his white teeth in a huge grin. "Oh. Is that so?"

"Fine. I wont HIT you."

"You wont hurt me," he paused, then added, "or my hair in anyway, shape, or form."

"What about your clothing?"

"Or my belongings."

"Does this include sexual organs?"

"This most definitely includes those," he assured her.

She scoffed. "Talk about taking all the fun out of life." Duo just shook his head, but his goofy smile remained. "And would you please hurry up and either let me out or put some clothing on?" Her face became a bit flushed though she fought hard to keep back the red blush. "No one wants Duo in nothing but a towel."

"Is that so?" Braidy-boy swiftly grabbed the shower curtain and slid it shut again, leaving Trinity behind it all alone. 

"Don't you dare leave me here!" Trinity screamed at him in her dry voice. 

"Then take that back," he said simply.

Trinity thought about her position for a second and then recited, "Fine. It's not true."

"What's not true?" Duo opened the shower curtain once more and smiled sadistically at her.

"Everyone wants to see Duo in nothing but a towel," Trinity forced out through gritted teeth. "As long as it's not just a strategically placed hand towel!!" She added.

"That'll have to do I suppose." He leaned down and untied her hands from behind her back. 

After being released, Trinity could have scattered flowers and joy all over the world; she felt as if she had just won the lottery, fallen madly in love, and blown up something very big all in one day. She was so happy she completely forgot that she had just been planning to kill Samantha, and the brunette gingerly pulled her aching body out of the bathtub and next to the nearly-naked Duo. 

So she stood there dripping onto the floor a bit before inquiring, "Can I have a towel at least, since it is your fault that I'm soaking? Sheesh, this IS my only outfit you know. It's not like I grabbed a bunch of shirts the last time I was home as I was busy fighting off a deranged soldier." 

"Duo? Did you die in there? I thought a mission like "find the toothbrush" would be easy enough for pilot 02, but I guess I was wrong!" Quatre yelled from the other side.

"Be right there, Quatre!!" Duo yelled at the door, then turned to Trinity. "This is the only towel," Duo said as he leaned into the shower to turn on the water once again and grabbed the yellow toothbrush. He slide the shower curtain shut as he turned to look over at the humorous sight of the soaking Trinity. "So you're just going to have to walk out in front of everyone all wet and put up with them laughing at you for a bit. That's what we have all gone through so fa- hey, what are you doing?!"

Trinity was busying herself by picking up some of Duo's clothes off of the floor. "Are some of these clean?" She asked him, holding up two handfuls of random clothes. "And how in the world do you all have so many outfits?! You run around with us, and me and Hannah, I mean Samantha, only have one outfit each!!"

Duo just shrugged. "Quatre usually goes out and buys us a bunch of clothes the first chance he gets." He leaned in close to her ear to whisper,"He has this thing against wearing underwear more than one day in a row. Kinda a neat freak if you know what I mean."

Trinity blinked. "Duo, dear, there are just some things that people don't need to hear. That would be one of them. Now, which ones are clean?"

"This...and this...and this...oh, this too," Duo grabbed at what seemed to Trinity, just random pieces of clothing. "These are clean." And to the doubtful look Trinity gave him, "I swear! They're clean! You can wear them if you want."

"Merci buckets," Trinity grumbled. "Okay, now." She turned off the water. "Hop in the shower, Duo."

He raised his eyebrows at her. 

"WITH THE TOWEL ON!! You'll understand in a second." The pilot complied and once he got in, Trinity whisked the curtain shut. "Okay, now chuck the towel to me over the top."

"I still--"

"I swear it'll make sense in a second." The towel came flying over the side and landed on Trinity's head. "There, now..." She reached in the shower without looking and turned on the shower full force.

"AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYE!! That's cold!" 

"There. I've had my little bit of revenge," the girl smirked to herself as she slipped off her shirt. "Now, don't you dare look. I'm going to change over here."

"Not that anyone would want to see Trinity Renada in nothing but a towel," Duo quipped from the other side of the curtain. 

Trinity had finished undressing besides her underwear (there was no way that she was going to wear a pair of Duo's boxers, even if he said they were clean. That was just too creepy); she then toweled herself dry with the towel, and preceded in jumping into black button up shirt and a pair of khaki pants Duo had told her were clean. "Aight. I'm off. Thanks for the clothes." She then started exiting the bathroom when an idea hit her. 

"Hmmm...." She mused evilly as she glanced around at the stack of clothing on the floor and began to throw all of the dirty and clean clothes out of the bathroom door and right at a very confused Quatre. 

"Oh yeah, and Trinity, hand Quatre his toothbrush would you?" Duo asked from in the shower.

"Yeah. Whatever you say." Trinity had finished removing all of the clothing from the bathroom and then picked up the toothbrush and the towel. She handed both to the very confused blonde pilot and shut the bathroom door. "Don't give him anything, k?"

Quatre nodded to show he understood what she was getting at and then opened his mouth to ask why she had been in the bathroom, but she held her hand up as a signal to stop.

"Sam."

"Oh."

"Yep." 

Just then, both Quatre, Trinity, and the rest of the household heard the tell-tale sounds of someone walking in through the front door. "I'm back!" Samantha yelled from below on the main floor. 

It was sort of a free for all as everyone (but Duo who was in the shower) charged towards the blonde for the first chance to scream at her, but the blonde just shook her head and looked at them all very seriously which was very odd to see. A completely serious Hannah was about as rare as a smiling Trowa. 

Heero had been the first one to reach her and so was the first one to ask, "What is it?"

"I'll tell you as long as you all," Sam's blue eyes looked at each of the others in turn, "swear to let me in on everything." 

"How do we know that this isn't just a trick?" Wufei asked from where he was leaning against the wall. 

"It's not, okay! This is serious!" One of Sam's eyebrows raised half an inch though, and she had to fight the urge to ask Wufei how he had regrown the hair that she had shaved off so quickly. 

"I'll tell you," Trinity told her. "I guess I did a lot of thinking - "Wufei snorted "-- in the shower. Okay. I'll tell you." She held her composure for one more second before, "BUT DID YOU REALLY HAVE TO LEAVE ME IN THE SHOWER FOR 20 HOURS!?!?!"

"You mean they just found you!?" Samantha burst into a fit of giggles, and was immediately followed by Trinity. Blonde and brunette both had to admit that it was pretty funny.

"What did you do to Wufei by the way? I missed it!" Trinity looked very disappointed as she glanced towards the Chinese pilot. 

Sam smiled evilly. "Oh, don't worry. A picture's worth a thousand words." The blonde blinked. "Wow. Deja vu. Have I -"

"You were saying that there was something very serious that happened while you were out?" Quatre asked coaxingly. 

The blonde came back to reality and looked towards Quatre. "Oh yeah!" She then went into her story about the men at the gas sation and how they might have seen her.

"Did they follow you back?" Trowa inquired.

"No."

"Are you certain no one followed you back?" Heero asked again for good measure. 

"YES. There was no one behind me all the way, and the guys never even made it out of the parking lot. It's okay. I lost 'em before I left the station."

"Well, then at worst the enemy knows that we're still on the colony," Quatre put in with a sigh of relief. 

Wufei glowered at Sam though. "Not that any of this would have happened if this stupid woman hadn't -"

"I still have some of that pink dye left, you know!" Sam threatened and Trinity nodded; Wufei clamped his mouth shut. "So, about what happened to all of us before I, uh, lost my memory."

Everyone glanced towards Trinity, and Quatre motioned the group towards the kitchen where they could eat and sit as he knew this was going to take awhile. "Well," the brunette began, "once upon a time, a girl by the name of Trinity Renada had a crack pot for a step-brother, and he..."

***

"You're positive that they're living there?" The young woman asked the soldier who sat in front of her. "We can't make any...mistakes. That could result in unhealthy consequences for you, I am afraid." She aimed the hand gun that had been laying on the desk in front of her nonchalantly at his head to make sure the point she was trying to make was clear. 

The man gulped; he really hated to be in the same room her. Something about her just made his blood freeze. Perhaps it was the fact she was holding a gun to his head. "I'm sure. My assistant and I followed her from the station to the house without her detecting us." He produced a photograph of a very ordinary looking split-level home from out of his pocket. "We waited to see that the young lady in question, Trinity, was at the house with the five boys. All seven of them are staying there with this woman." This time he placed a different picture on the table in front of the brunette girl.

"'Tina Rudevic'," she read out loud to herself. "Hmmm. I thought they would of least have left the colony. Then again, that would have been the predictable thing to do, so I suppose it makes sense that they stayed, doesn't it?" She wasn't really asking him a question, but rather musing to herself aloud. "Good work. Dismissed."

'Thank goodness', the henchman thought as he slipped from the room. Whenever he saw her he felt as if she was going to suck out his soul through his mouth. Maybe it was the fact that she had been known to kill her soldiers just because she was bored at the time, or maybe it was because someone that young shouldn't be running a war. 'Either way', he thought as he shivered, 'I'm glad we found that damn blonde girl. Who ever heard of hiding behind a box of Honey Nut Chex cereal?'

  
  


***

A/N: Howdy! Magic here (not to be Captain Obvious), but I would just like to apologize for the long delay on the most recent chapters, including this one. I'll be trying to write more often and hope to post things in two week intervals (if not in shorter ones!!) as apposed to months in between chapters. This would have been written earlier, but I was on a trip without a computer or anything for three weeks and didn't have a chance to write it! SOOOOOOORRY! You love me though...so you can review and keep reading!!! Merci buckets for the support!! 


	16. The Truth Hurts

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1!

  


Chapter Sixteen

"The Truth Hurts"

By Magic

"Kash noo flive be qua hash thith ish?"

Samantha and Trinity's eyes bulged out of their heads; there was a very large fake pine tree standing in the middle of the living room doorway. It was not the fact that it was very large, fake, greenish and piney that really got to the two. No, it was more a matter of the fact that the pine tree was conversing with them. The two girls blinked, glanced at each other in amazement, and then looked back over to the tree. 

"It almost sounded like Duo," Samantha informed her brunette accomplice. 

Trinity's eyes widened even more, and she gasped. "What if the tree ATE HIM?!"

Samantha gasped mock horror. "No! Whatever shall we do?!"

"We can't have a hungry pine tree on the loose in the house!"

"No, we ca - Trin, hun, it probably wouldn't be very hungry after eating Duo," Samantha pointed out as she grabbed her hot cider from the kitchen counter where the two girls were seated.

It was at this time that Duo's head poked out from behind the tree and glared at the two. "Would the two of you knock it off and give me a hand?" He growled, finally comprehendible now that his mouth wasn't full of fake pine needles.

"Ah! It didn't eat his head though. That means that it didn't get a full meal, which I do believe means, that it could still be hungry," Trinity deduced.

Samantha tutted her as if that answer was obvious. "It didn't eat Duo's head because the tree was already FULL from eating the rest of him. Mr. Tree is saving Duo's head for a snack before bedtime."

"Oh," Trinity pondered that for a second, "but what if it didn't eat Duo's head because there was too much hair for it to gage down?"

"Well, I hadn't thought of tha-"

"Never mind then!" Duo exclaimed as he burst through the door, scuttled as fast as possible to the corner of the living room near the window, and tossed the tree onto the ground. Miraculously, the hungry/full tree didn't fall over in the process (or eat anybody on the way).

"Duo!" The two girls ran over to him and patted him on the back. 

"We thought you were done for," Trinity informed him with a forced worried look upon her face.

"If only he was," Wufei drawled as he meandered into the room. He was immediately ignored by the trio over in the corner. 

Samantha nodded and explained, "We believed it all over after you were cruelly sent down by the slave driver Tina to find her Christmas tree. How ever did you escape from the tree's clutches in one piece?"

"Maybe the tree is bulimic," Tina put in as she waltzed through the same doorway with a large cardboard box in hand. Looks of understanding replaced those of relief on the faces of Samantha and Trinity as the two girls realized that the case must have been that.

"Of course."

"Why didn't we think of that?"

"I'll tell you why," Wufei began, but the other two didn't stop to acknowledge his presence.

"I was going to go with the fact that Duo probably doesn't taste the best."

"Me too."

"Are you two sure that the cider hasn't been spiked?" Quatre asked with a smile as he followed Heero and Trowa through the door, all three of them covered in Christmas decor odds and ends. The three and Trina approached the tree and set their burdens onto the floor by it. 

"No," Trina informed them all as she walked over to look into the girls' glasses and confirmed that they had been drinking the cider," the cider doesn't have anything in it, but, in accordance with the traditional version, the eggnog has something, well, a little stronger than...uh..."

"Egg?" Samantha suggested.

"Nog?" Trinity put in and received a Stupid Thwap across the back of the head from Sam for it. 

Duo's eyes seemed to have brightened at the idea of having something a little stronger than 'egg' or 'nog' to drink and was the first person to poor himself a glass full of the thick substance. Samantha winced at the vision and promptly explained to the group how drinking something that was as thick as snot wasn't exactly her ideal holiday beverage.

"Who would have thought that Christmas is just a day away?" Tina said to the general public as she began to open up the boxes and boxes of decoration they had scavenged from the basement. "I've been so busy with finals that I hadn't even noticed that tomorrow is Christmas Eve...I'm so dead!" She screamed to finish off her sentence. 

"Don't worry about it," Quatre ordered her kindly as he hung up a few balls over the kitchen table on the pots and pans that were suspended there. "We'll help you decorate everything before your family gets here tomorrow."

Tina smiled gratefully at the blonde. "But I feel bad for having to kick you all out for Christmas Eve and, most of all, Christmas day..."

"Again, don't worry about it," Trinity quipped from where her and Heero were now engaged in an epic battle with the Christmas lights; the lights were winning. The harder they attempted to unknot the long strand of colorful bulbs, the more tangled they themselves became in the cords. Heero had even begun mumbling about killing off the lights and how he should never have left his gun up in his room. 

"Yeah, it really wouldn't do any good to have your family see Trinity Renada and her posse hanging out at your house," Hannah put in from over where she was trying (and failing) at pulling the egg nog out of Duo's hands for he was already working on his second glass and had been attempting to fill it up before anyone noticed two-thirds of it were gone. The blonde had come unprepared for battle and could not find the pilot's soft spot for her nails to dig into, so eventually after a lot of swearing and promises of pain later, she relinquished the bottle to Duo and sat down defiantly. "That's just what we need. You to get drunk."

"I'm a very responsible drinker," Duo informed her with a rouge like grin as he took another gulp and filled his empty glass to the brink once again.

"Yes," Heero said, "'responsible' in meaning that he always succeeds in getting drunk without problem every time he gets his hands on liquor."

"Thank you, Heeeeeeeero," Duo called to his friend Relena-esque as he walked over to the group, glass in hand, and slung his arm around pilot 01's shoulders. "You could never find a better friend in all of colony L10 than those that -" Heero shot Duo a glare and flicked his arm off his shoulders "- will always kill you when you're down. I salute thee!" He gestured his glass in Heero's direction as a toast and downed another mouthful. 

"You know, he's rather amusing when he's drunk," Sam whispered into Trinity's ear as they slung the lights around the tree.

Trinity smirked and shook her head. "You remember how I told you about the time most of us got drunk in the guy's dorms?" She glanced over at Duo who was now hanging decorations from Trowa's magical bangs. "Amusing is not even close to describing how hilarious he gets. Not that he isn't hilarious without anything to drink, it's just that it steps it up another level of...erm..."

"Captian Obviousness?"

"Exactly. Thank you." The two girls finished hanging the lights, and so the rest of the group could begin putting the ornaments onto the tree. The actual decorating of the room wouldn't have taken so long if mini-battles hadn't broken out between the eight throughout the time (one with ended with Wufei's pants being stuffed with tinsel by Sam and Trinity), but when the room and rest of the house had been geared up for some holiday cheer some few hours later, there was a definite lightening of the spirits for the whole group. Or perhaps it was the fact that most of them had taken a few glasses of eggnog. Either way, it had rounded on two o'clock in the morning, and everyone was still up by the newly glittery living room, sipping eggnog. There were only a few last bulbs to be put in random places around the room, and Sam and Trinity had been assigned the task of finding the 'perfect' places to put the last two.

Trinity held up her blue one. "Where in the world should be put these? I don't think there is any place left," she said with a glance around the room.

"Don't give up so easily," Sam ordered her as she twirled the breakable glass bulb around her fingers and shook her head a Trowa at the same time. He had once again attempted to remove the little star decoration which was dangling from his hair, but the blonde had caught him mid-grab. Everyone had decided that it was rather becoming of the ex-clown and were all making him keep it in as long as they possibly could. For their amusement and his suffering of course. 

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, a paaaaaaartridge in a pear tree!" Duo belted out from where he lay on the back of the couch, braid swinging nonchalantly over the edge. He turned unstably to Trinity who was standing next to him and inquired, "Why in all hell would someone want a pear tree?" His words were slightly slurred as he had been the one to finish off most of the eggnog. "And why would the partridge be there? Do those poor birds even like pear trees or do people just stuff 'em in there when they've got a lover who wants a bunch of really crappy Christmas presents?"

The brunette slowly turned to the youth and shook her head. "Silence is a virtue."

"I thought that was 'patience'?" Duo asked, his face screwing up into what was supposed to be a confused face, but in his drunken state, it looked more as if his brain had become constipated. 

"There are exceptions."

"Ooooo! Exceptions are there?" Duo gave out a loud burp as he shifted his weight slightly on the couch. "An' I suppose that this just HAPPENS to be one of those times, aye?"

"It would appear to be," Trinity informed him with a very plastered straight face; Sam found this very amusing as she had never seen Trinity be able to keep anything remotely like a straight face before. Her friend would never had made it as a model. The photographer would shout "Okay now, one without a smile", and Trinity would have burst into laughter; a carrier as a professional mime wasn't looking too hot for her either. As if she had predicted it, a fit of laughter erupted from Trinity as she apparently couldn't win at a stare off with the drunken Duo.

Samantha's stomach growled fitfully from where she sat on the floor next to the Christmas tree. "Hey, Trinity!"

"Yes, ma'am?" Trinity shouted from over where she was hanging her last Christmas ball from the milk carton in the fridge.

"Do you think you could make me a piece of toast? With sugar and cinnamon?" Sam placed her decoration on the carpet in the middle of the room and called it good. "And don't burn it!"

Trinity looked over her shoulder at her friend as she poured herself a glass of hot chocolate. "Hey now. What do you think I am? Your wife?" She took a sip of the chocolate and gasped as the scolding liquid reached her tongue; she had forgotten that hot chocolate was, indeed, quite warmish. "Not that I would be one to question the godliness of cinnamon-sugar toast in the early hours of the day, but until you start pitching in with raising the kids, I'm no longer doing the chores around here."

"Listen my bitch, you are my slave," Sam cleared up for her, "not my wife. There is no way that I would marry into a crack head family like yours. That and," she decided that it was probably safer to make herself her toast anyway, so she got up and started walking towards the open kitchen (no one wants to trust Trinity with anything remotely sharp, pointy, and shiny - even if it is a butter knife), "we're a lil too young to be talking about this sort of commitment. I mean, we just met."

"Oh," Trinity sniffed and wiped away a false tear, "first rejected by Wufei, and now you."

Samantha stopped short, and Quatre, Trowa, and Heero all smirked as they realized what was coming next. "You asked WUFEI first?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Samantha. You were just the guy I'd fall back on if I was rejected."

"So...I'm second to Wufei." Her eyebrow twitched dangerously. 

"Yep. That about sums it up," Trinity's declared as she gloated at her comeback. 'I got her good this time,' Trinity thought to herself, ' I just hope that she doesn't do anything too drastic when she beats me.' Her eyes swept the room for any signs of the change sock. 

"Ooooh, you're gunna-" Samantha began before Duo interrupted from the couch with, "Well, no wonder he rejected you, Trin. Wufei's already been married."

The three girls in the room had been shocked into silence. It was as if someone had sucked out their brains through their ears with straws; they didn't move; they didn't speak. Trinity and Samantha didn't even take a bite of their toast which they each held in one hand. The five guys on the other hand remained about the same, with the exception of Wufei who had turned a deeper shade of tomato and had crossed his arms over his chest as if daring anyone to comment on the fact.

"It's true then," Sam finally said after she took a long, hard look at Wufei's face; there were no lines of a smile anywhere there, not that he had ever been one to play along with their jokes, but she didn't think that there was any sign of his denying the fact. If it wasn't true, then she was almost certain that he would have already said something. 'He doesn't exactly appear the be the happiest about this subject,' Samantha pondered as she took at slow bite of her toast and her mouth exploded with cinnamon-sugary goodness.

Whether it was the eggnog, lack of sleep, or just sheer stupidity, Trinity would never really know why, but she didn't notice the glint in Wufei's eyes at the mention of his significant other that night. She would later wish she had noticed and would pray for a few more brain cells in her head and a sock that she could slam in her mouth when need be, but that night, without a second thought, she shot her mouth off. "What happened, Wu-wu? Mommy pick out a bride for you?"

"You're generally correct."

Trinity's blank stare was more than humorous for all.

"It's a tradition. You're ignorance on different cultures is amusing." Pilot 05's eyes narrowed dangerously. The room's air became tense, and Duo was beginning to think that he shouldn't have had the last drink. He figured that his mouth had ran away with him again; that and he was feeling a bit on the woozy side as the room seemed to be tilting to the left about thirty or so degrees.

Trinity had planned to slam down her hot chocolate mug on the table for effect, but realized only too late that she was in fact holding her piece of toast in that hand. Butter dampened cinnamon and sugar stuck to her hand as she slid the flat piece of bread off the table stealthily, hoping that no one had seen that. "'You're ignorance blah, blah, blah'. Come on, Wufei, tell us about her? Where is this so called girl that you've got?" Trinity crossed her arms across her chest as well and stared straight ahead at her adversary.

"As if this is any of your business," Wufei scoffed at her as he turned from her to fix one of the small, suicidal Santa's that had taken a plunge off of the fireplace. 

"She probably left you, didn't she?"

Wufei's body gave a small twitch with the anger that he was keeping within. There was no reason for them to be conversing about her. 'If that damn Maxwell had just kept his mouth shut...' Wufei cursed under his breath. 

"Oh! So she did! Probably couldn't stand your arrogant attitude, not that anyone can anyway." Wufei whipped around to stare into Trinity's mocking face; the brunette hadn't yet realized how sore the subject was or how deeply she was cutting him. The others in the room just watched mutely from the sidelines, either too afraid to step in between the two for fear of losing a limb or, in Heero and Trowa's case, too bored with the normality of the two's bickering to care either way.

Trinity's slightly tipsy mind was looking for other daggers to throw at him as a tiny voice in the back of her mind (some may call it woman's intuition, others may call it a little leprechaun -either way...) ordered her to shut up, that she was going to far, and that she was going to pay for it later. Better to live to fight another day (woman intuition); if she died now, she would never be able to burn things again (leprechaun). But, scream as the voice did, it didn't make its way through the brunette's hard head before her mouth said, "Or maybe you were so weak that she couldn't stand to be around you anymore and went looking for a real man."Her heart skipped a beat; the look in his eyes at that gave her chills.

She'd gone too far. 

'Thank you, Captain Obvious,' the little voice growled at her as it released a long sigh. 

Wufei clenched and unclenched his fist as he fought against his raging anger. There was no way that he was going to hit her right now. It wasn't that it was above his moral code, but rather that he knew that he wasn't going to have to. This come back had been stored in the back of his mind for a long time and had been slowly growing tastier with age (much like wine, or perhaps even cheese. To a point that is) as it waited for the perfect time to be opened. He hadn't even ever planned to unleash it at her, but she had taken three steps over the line and her strikes had run out. 

"Don't talk to me about being unwanted," Wufei's black eyes glowed with hatred. "I wasn't the one reluctantly taken in."

Trinity's mouth tried to grasp enough words to put into a sentence; she wasn't going to let him get her this time, but she had a feeling she was fighting a losing battle. "Well, if I was so 'reluctantly taken in', why did the reluctantly taking-iners even bother? Why didn't they just leave me out on my own, since, as they have said, they knew exactly who I was all along? Hmm?" Thinking she had pulled herself off thin ice, she placed her hands on her hips as if daring him to come up with something.

Heero and Trowa's minds suddenly snapped back from where they had been wondering as they realized how hostile the battle of the sexes (as the two had secretly named it) had become. "Wufei," Quatre began as the blonde sensed what was coming next. 

Wufei's eyes glittered with the aspect of revenge. "That's the reason exactly." Trinity blinked in confusion. "Why would 5 rebels take in the step-sister of a deranged war general? They ran the risk of being sold out by the sister to the brother! There could only be one reason why these five men would take in the enemy's own flesh and blood. Perhaps they understood that Nadir Renada had an obsession with killing his step-sister and would go to any lengths to find her and finish the job he had failed at. Realizing this, they had all decided that, even though there would be a tremendous amount of babysitting involved in the tedious job, that Trinity Renada would be the only fire sure way to get at Nadir."

He paused momentarily for effect; no one spoke before he continued, "So the five took her in against their will and kept a close watch on the troublesome girl as she blundered around, always watching her for a chance when a stay bullet would catch her off guard. Or perhaps when some stranger would bump into her in the street and take her off to her brother. Either way, though everything didn't go as smoothly as planned, the five guys did find Nadir Renada. The bait had worked." He took a few steps forward in front of the couch so only she could see his face. "But now what are the five supposed to do as they have been stuck with babysitting the bait?"

Trinity had become sheet white as she stared into his black eyes. So, she had been right in feeling that she was now a burden. They didn't need her anymore; they were stuck watching her. They hadn't taken her in out of kindness. Bait. She was just the worm on the end of a hook. 'Do I mean anything to them?' She wanted to run from the room, no, from the house. Her mind screamed for her to flee, but her feet had become lead and sat there like rocks. 

"And the girl didn't even know what role she was to play in the plot. She's completely ignorant even of the hate that one of the five holds for the whole Renada family. The naive girl doesn't know a thing, does she?" Wufei was standing feet in front of her now. "She doesn't even know who her brother killed! Who's friend Nadir mur-"

Duo's white knuckled fist connected squarely with Wufei's left cheek, instantly shutting the pilot up and sending him staggering to the side. The braided one gingerly rubbed his right hand as he spat, "You keep Hilde out of your little cat fights, Wufei. How dare you bring her into your petty argument!" He lunged at Wufei once more, but in his tipsy state, the black-haired youth caught him off guard and rammed a fist into Duo's stomach.

"You're the one who damned the Renada family to hell! Right after Nadir shot her, you would've given anything to kill every last member of Trinity's family, including her!" Wufei let Duo drop to one of his knees on the tiled kitchen floor. The others in the room eyed the two as if they were a program on TV that they were watching and not two people fighting in the kitchen. Trinity's mind was whirling with thoughts that didn't make any sense; she couldn't figure out what she should feel. The world was ending, and she was without a life jacket. 

"Before I met her! Times have changed, Wufei," Duo informed through clenched teeth. "Speak for yourself! That was then, this is now!!" He flung himself at Wufei and the two went sprawling into the kitchen table and chairs. 

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Samantha muttered out of pure habit. Her comment went unnoticed by everyone in the room. 

It was at this time when Heero and Trowa had swiftly leapt to their feet and wrenched the two apart. Trowa held Duo's arms behind his back as he pulled him, squirming and thrashing, off to near the fridge by Trinity, where as Heero yanked Wufei off the floor and pinned him against the wall.

"This is pointless," Trowa said as Duo finally stopped trying to escape his grip. Quatre had also gotten to his feet and was now eyeing Duo and Wufei with tired eyes. 

"You'd think you two would get enough fighting during the war." Quatre closed his eyes, and then opened them, shining with resistance, as he glanced towards them all. "This is no time to be fighting amongst ourselves. Wufei, you know Trinity didn't mean what she was saying. You went too far this time." Wufei looked away defiantly and out the window. "And you, Duo. There is no excuse for starting a fight with one of your comrades."

"Yes, mother," Duo quipped as Trowa released his arms.

Quatre sent him a glared before turning to Trinity, worry shining in his eyes. "Trinity, I'm -"

"It's true, isn't it?" Trinity asked, her voice quiet and almost childlike.

Quatre seemed at a loss for words; Heero nodded for the blonde. Samantha felt as if the room was going to start suffocating her. And she thought that the Partridge family had problems! 1950's sitcoms would have had a heyday with everything that her new found friends went through on a daily basis.

"Then don't apologize. Thanks for telling me, Wufei." She turned to face her adversary. "Had to find out someday. Can't stay ignorant forever, can I?" She forced a very fake smile onto her lips as she felt her eyes start to glisten. 'Gotta get out of this room,' she thought desperately. 'There's no way I'm going to let them see me cry. No way. I'd rather eat asparagus.' She shuddered involuntarily at the thought. 

'Duo needs to tell Trinity about Hilde. She needs to know why he hated her,' Quatre plotted in his head. 'Somehow...I hope he does...he's slightly drunk now. It might just work.' The blonde looked at the girl. 'And she needs an excuse to leave.' "Trinity, will you take Duo up to his bed? He's a bit unstable at the moment."

"Hey! Who're ya callin' unstable, Quat?" Duo demanded as he took a step towards him and ended up falling flat on his face with a dull flopping noise much like that of a diseased waffle; Trowa had shot his leg out in front of Duo. Quatre nodded a thanks to his magic haired friend. 

'Escape!' Trinity realized as she knelt next to Duo and pulled him up to a standing position. "Sure thing. Uh, goodnight everyone. I think I'm going to, uh, hit the sack now." She flung Duo's arm over her shoulder as he protested loudly and started out the door. "You coming, Sam?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Not just yet," Samantha told her friend. She was going to beat Wufei with her change sock until there were little coin marks all over his entire body, then skin him, and see what sort of sorbet she could make using him as the secret ingredient. By the faces of the others in the room, their thoughts were along the same line as hers.

Trinity nodded and continued dragging Duo out of the room and into the hallway. When they reached the stairs, Trinity had finally gotten control of her eyes and the threat of crying had been submerged, but she still felt as if she had been hit by a mobile suit. It also felt very awkward with Duo on her shoulder as she now knew that he hated her. Or did hate her, or...oh, it was much to confusing for her mind to grasp at that hour. She didn't know what Nadir had done, but by the sound of it, it couldn't have been good. 

'There's no way that I'm going to ask him about it though, no sir. I've said enough for my whole life time,' she scolded herself. 'And I had just informed Duo minutes before that 'silence is a virtue'.'

As if the braided one had read her thoughts, he spoke. "You know, I don't understand why I'm an exception to the 'silence is a virtue' thing, and you're not. And Wufei definitely doesn't have the virtue at the moment."

Trinity smirked slightly as the two of them reached the landing. She steered the wobbly Duo into his bed room and dropped him down on the bed which was much harder than it would have been for any normal person as Trinity seemed to have a magnetic attraction to pointy corners. Because of this, they ended up ramming themselves at every turn, and both had bruised shoulders before they reached their destination. 

"You know, with the way you walk, I'm surprised that I'M the drunk one," Duo told her.

Trinity shook her head. "That's only because you're drunk that you're thinking that way."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Oh." That was when Trinity dropped him onto his bed. Duo pulled his blue pillow up behind his head and stretched out his body before glancing up at her with a stupid gleam in his eyes. "Can you tuck me in?"

"Oo! Wittle Duo-dums wants to be tucky-wuckied iny-poo?" She pulled the pillow out from under his head and beat him across the head with it a few times before throwing it at his mid section. She turned on her heels, grumbled a 'goodnight' over her shoulder, and was almost out the door before the pillow hit her square on the back of her head. Duo had excellent aim. 

"Hey!" She chucked the pillow back at him and hit the window to his far left; her aim need a bit of work, but Samantha/Hannah would work on that later.

"Nice aim. You can't leave yet."

Trinity was so taken back by the complete lack of connection between the two sentences that she actually stopped mid step and turned back to face him. A few seconds more of recovery and then she asked, "And why is that? I'm a bit tired and emotionally distraught, and if you ask me to tuck you in again I will shave your legs and super glue a tutu around your stomach, so don't even think about it."

"I don't hate you."

Trinity felt as if she could faint with relief, but she kept her emotions in check. She took a timid step back into the dark room and inquired quietly, "And the others?"

"I don't even think Wufei hates you. He probably thinks you make life...interesting," Duo gave the tiniest of smirks before his face went serious again. 

'He must be drunk,' Trinity mused as she walked up to his bedside and knelt next to him, 'I've never seen him so serious. It's a lot like seeing Trowa smile. Only without the goosebumps.' "What did Nadir do to you?"

"He killed her," Duo's voice dropped to just above a whisper. He no longer looked at Trinity but rather stared out of the window to the other side. The street lights lit up suburbia so that you could see the outlines of the other houses, but his blue eyes weren't focusing on them. He wasn't looking at anything. 

Trinity swallowed her 'Captain Obvious comment' for another more appropriate time. "Who did he kill?"

"Hilde. I was living with her on L2. We had been together for a couple years before..." he didn't really stop talking but rather his voice just faded away into silence. 

Trinity felt as if she was having to pluck the information and suddenly got the feeling that she had when she and Hannah had removed Dorothy's second eyebrows. The whole slow torture feeling, only this time with questions. "So, she was your girlfriend then?"

"We had never declared so officially..." he went silent again as if he was thinking. "It was more of an understood thing."

"You two must have been really close then."

"Yeah. Yeah, we were." 

The feeling of plucking eyebrows subsided in Trinity and another took its place. What was it? Her eyes widened slightly as she put her finger on its name. No. That couldn't be it; there was no reason why she should feel jealous because of that. She must be hungry or something. Trinity shoved it out of her mind as Duo started talking again. 

"He shot her. I was there, and I couldn't do anything. I just had to watch," he finally rolled his head over to face her and his cobalt eyes met hers. "I wanted to kill him. To make him the most unhappy person ever. To murder all of his family in front of him. I hated every last one of them."

Trinity felt the corners of her mouth rise a bit. 'Ironic that he ended up saving my life.'

"I don't hate you."

"You already said that."

"But," she could smell the slight bit of alcohol on his breath as he spoke, "I just wanted to make sure you understood that. It wasn't your fault at all." He yawned and his eyelids began to slide down over his blue eyes. "None of it is. Don't beat yourself up over it."

"Okay."

"I don't, " he yawned again, "believe you. You're always takin' all the blame for, " his eyes had shut completely by then, "everything. This was my fault. I killed Nadirs men. He killed Hilde. He almost killed you and the others. We're all one, big, happy family. Well, except when you and Hann' are together in the same room with Wufei...cuz then we know what happens...but I jus' wan'ed you to know," he gave one last yawn, "I dun hate ya."

His body went limp as he finally passed out on the bed.

"Alright then." Trinity stood up to leave, but in the movement, she got tangled up in something big and fluffy on the floor. With a curse, she unstuck herself to find it was Duo's blanket. "Stupid slob," she grumbled and without realizing what she was doing, she lightly draped it over his sleeping form.

The brunette knelt down next to him to pull the blanket up to his neck and instinctively reached to brush some stray bangs out of his face. She stopped herself short of actually doing so and felt her cheeks turn pink. "What the hell am I doing?"

"I haven't a clue, but it almost disturbs me, ya know?" Samantha's voice whispered to her from directly behind. 

"Yi-!!!" Sam's hand slammed down over Trinity's mouth before she could scream out.

"Hush!" The blonde scolded as she pulled Trinity from the room. "We don't want to wake Sleeping Beauty do we?"

"Sleeping Beauty?" Trinity asked her friend as her eyebrows raised.

The two girls traversed the hallway and wandered into their bedroom as the lights of the kitchen and living room began to shut off. Obviously, everyone was getting the same idea as Duo and were going to hit the sack. 

"Unless of course," Sam said with a sly smile, "you want to wake up Sleeping Beauty. Perhaps with a kiss from a handsome, uh, Trince."

"Trince? No more eggnog for you. Ever."

"Hey. I don't have much to work with here, I haven't had caffeine in hours, and it's really late. Give me a break!" The blonde commenced in putting on her pajamas. She figured that Trinity was also a wee-bit tired and hadn't picked up on the 'Trince', so she added, "You were all alone. It was the perfect opportunity if one didn't want any one else to know."

The unoiled gears in Trinity's brain pushed reluctantly into movement once more for the night. ''Trince'?' She thought. 'Oooooooh!' "What in all hell are you talking about?! Are you crazy! That was the last thing that I was thinking!"

"Hah! But you admitted it! Even if it was the last thing, you were still thinking of it!" Samantha flopped down victoriously on her bed and pulled the covers around her.

"I WASN'T THINKING OF THAT AT ALL!" Trinity screamed and was sure if 'Sleeping Beauty' wasn't awake before, he was now, kiss or no kiss. "I would rather marry Wufei than think that, let alone do that, thank you very much!"

"Stop right there. You know where this conversation went last time," Sam pointed out to her overly tired and stressed out friend.

"You're right." Trinity sighed deeply and hoped into her own bed. The two sat in silence for a couple seconds before Trinity had an epiphany. "That bastard! I ended up tucking him in anyway!"

It was Sam's turn to sigh. "You know what, I'm not even going to bother with Captain Obvious comments anymore. I'll save a lot more oxygen that way. Wont have to breath half as much."


	17. Uninvited Guests

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!

  


Chapter Seventeen

"Unexpected Visitors"

By Magic

"You can't wallow in self pity all day long, you know!" Samantha called to her counterpart from the girls' bathroom. The blonde glanced back at her reflection with a scowl on her face. Her hair, which was currently trying to escape two pig tails that resided on both sides of the top of her head, wasn't cooperating. She growled a threat under her breath to chop it off at the next available moment, rolled the hair into tight balls around the elastic hair bands, and declared that it was as good as it was going to get. 

"I'm not wallowing," the brunette answered from under her blanket where she was attempting to evade the suns rays. She swore that the sun had some sort of revenge it was trying to accomplish against her and if she ever heard the song "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun" she was going to beat in the singers face with Hannah's change sock. 

Sam had just finished rinsing her face off and was toweling herself dry as she inquired, "If you're not wallowing, then what are you doing?"

Trinity tried to think of a good word, something long, impressive, and that she couldn't spell, but nothing was coming. It was far too early for thoughts; it hadn't hit the P.M. hours yet. "I can't think of what it is, but it isn't a wallow, that's for sure." She sighed. "I'm not an accomplished wallower just yet."

"Oh, I see, young Grasshopper." Samantha chucked the towel into the hamper. "We're still learning the art of the wallow. Well, I could instruct you, but I'd rather beat you out of the bed. It could be fun! Nothing like a good arm exercise before breakfast, I always said. I do believe that my change sock arm is getting a little flabby." She ripped the covers off of her hiding friend and pocked her right bicep. "See?" 

A bead of sweat dripped down Trinity's forehead and onto her nose as she realized there was no escape but actually getting up. "Alright, you win. I don't want to be the cause for toning your arm muscles. We'll leave that up to Wufei." She quickly flung herself from bed and into the bathroom. 

"So were you wallowing or not?" Sam asked once more as she lay back on her bed. Her hand instinctively reached for the mug of cappuccino (they were out of mocha) that sat on the bed stand next to her. She took a sip before adding, "Because I'm thinking I would wallow just a bit, not much, but I must admit a bit after finding out what you did last night."

Trinity pondered. It was very hard at that time in the morning, and so as she thought, her eyebrows furrowed close together, her tongue stuck out at an odd angle out of her mouth, and several lines appeared on her forehead. Not to mention she almost fell over out of overwork, but eventually she worked out what she was feeling. "No. Not wallowing this morning." She unscrewed her face and turned to the mirror so she comb out her hair. "Besides, Duo explained everything to me last night."

"Ah, so, the almighty convo with the Village Idiot." 

"That would be the one."

"So, everything's good then? Between you and the guys that is," Sam began twirling the empty coffee mug around her index finger by the handle as she waited for the reply. 

"Well," Trinity flung on a clean shirt and then emerged from the bathroom, "besides the fact that I haven't been able to get them anything for Christmas, or you for that matter - don't reach for the change sock! - I think we're, uh, okay."

Samantha nodded, and at that moment the twirling coffee mug took off through the air. It had leapt from her finger and shattered against the wall nearest to Trinity's head. The brunette screamed "Duck and cover!" and did so as the glass rained down upon her head. When she figured that no more pieces of the coffee cup were going to attack her and the coast was clear, she removed her hands from her head. 

"That's the fourth one this week."

"And the second today."

Trinity eyed her friend wearily as she plucked shards of glass from her hair and brushed them onto the floor. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were aiming at my head."

"You obviously know better, Trin," Samantha commented as a smirk played across her lips. "You also know that if I had been aiming, I would have hit you. You see, it's all in the wrist, and it's the release that gets you when you're going for accuracy because -"

Samantha's lecture on the art of flinging mugs at bystanders heads was cut short as Quatre's light-hearted voice called to them from the foot of the stairs and informed them that breakfast was ready. The two girls shot out of their room, had a short (but brutal) battle about who got to slide down the banister first, and arrived with a crash in the kitchen as Samantha slide through the door and Trinity came careening into her friend across the slippery tiles.

"Hungry?" Quatre inquired of the two with a smile as he helped them both to their feet and gestured to the table, which was covered in mountains of pancakes and green jell-o. "I sure hope so because Trowa has made us a whole box of pancakes for Christmas Eve breakfast."

"Oh, you know us, Quat," Samantha quipped as she sat down next to Heero who was already working through his third cake (they had boughten blueberry syrup the night before and it was his only weakness - even the "Perfect soldier" has to have some downfall). Trinity's shining eyes spoke for her as she took a seat across the table from Heero and next to Trowa. Wufei was left at the end of the table with two empty chairs on either side of him as Quatre sat down on the other end. 

"Where's Tina?" Trinity asked with surprisingly clear enunciation for having a mouth full of pancake. "And Duo? Has he ever missed a meal?"

"No. I believe his breakfast attendance is nearly as good as yours," Trowa informed her as-a-matter-a-fact like as he cut off a piece of pancake for himself. 

"The woman is upstairs finishing up cleaning before her family arrives," Wufei said, getting tired of being ignored completely by the whole table, "and I believe Maxwell is feeling the effects of his indulgence last night." A evil grin that said 'serves him right' slunk across the pilot's face. 

With that, the table was immersed in the noises of chewing, forks scraping plates, and Trinity guzzling down a whole quart of chocolate milk, until everyone's stomach was satisfactorily filled. Trinity leaned back in her chair, a look of pure bliss flowing over her face as Sam let out a long, loud burp of which surprised them all. 

"Excellent. I give it an 8," Trinity declared as she took another long swig of her chocolate milk.

Samantha smiled. "Why thank you."

"Much obliged. I know artwork when I see it....or rather hear it."

Suddenly Heero let out his own ear shattering belch from next to the blonde that just about startled her out of her seat. The tiniest of grins spread across his face as he commented, "I'd give that a 10 myself."

"Yep, defiantly a 10," Trinity said as she nodded in agreement, her brown eyes wide. 

Trowa finished off the very last bit of his pancake. "Maybe even an 11, depending on the scale you are using."

Sam met Trinity's eyes, which looked just as bewildered as hers did. "It's kinda creepy when the guys get into the Christmas spirit." Nod, nod went Trinity's head; she was afraid that if she said anything, she would start giggling hysterically. 

The group began cleaning off the table with the exception of Wufei, who had slunk off towards the television. Trinity was the first to alert everyone to his escape. "What? Wufei too good to clean off the table?"

"That's a woman's job," Wufei commented over his shoulder as the girls' scowled at his back, "and besides, I did the dishes last night."

"We forced you into it as punishment," Sam pointed out to him as she smiled viciously at the memory.

"The apron wasn't necessary," he shot back.

"Oh. Yes. Yes, it was. And so were the pictures that I took." The blonde brandished a couple of square prints from her jean pocket and handed them over to Trinity. "I was going to give these to you as an impromptu Christmas present, but now is a much better time for you to see the softer side of Wufei." Trinity's eyes bulged from her head. 

"He should go into modeling. The Martha Stewart of AC197."

"I think pink is rather becoming on him, don't you, Trinity?"

"It looks wonderful with his skin tones, which is odd because I think he's more of a winter color than a summer," she held the prints under the kitchen table lights, so that she could see them to the full effect. 

By this time, Wufei had bounded over the couch and was now standing next to Trinity, trying to wrench the pictures out of her grasp, but she had the death grip on them. "If you don't," Wufei panted as he gabbed aimlessly at the pictures that she waved around in front of his face, "give me those back..."

"Why, is that a threat, Wu-wu?" The brunette asked as she held the blackmail behind her back.

"Yes."

"What are you gonna do about it?" Trinity dared him as Samantha shook her head in dismay from next to her friend. It wasn't that the blonde had anything against making Wufei's life a living hell and then some, but after what had happened last night, she would think that her friend would have learned not to bait him continuously. Well, by now she figured that the whole "learn from past mistakes" was overlooked by Trinity in certain instances. She sat back to watch the fun unroll.

"Simply this," Wufei's leg shot out and entangled with Trinity's; the girl barely managed to maintain her balance and hold onto the pictures as she stepped back, only to have Wufei's arm reach out and grasp hers above the elbow. He whirled her around and pinned her against the table as he pried the evidence of his feminine side from her hands. "Say 'uncle'," he mocked.

"Like hell I will," Trinity growled over her shoulder as pilot 05 twisted her arm just a little more. A jolt of pain ran through her shoulder, but she only responded with sticking her tongue out at the black haired on and giving him a raspberry.

Wufei wrenched her arm even more out of any natural position. "Sat 'uncle. Come on. It's not that long of a word."

"No. I can even spell it," Trinity clamped her mouth down as she realized she was digging herself a hole of stupidity. "Hey, Sam! Wanna give me a hand over here!! He's going to take your pictures!!"

"I have the negatives stashed upstairs," the blonde replied as she handed Trowa a dirty dish. "And my change sock is upstairs, otherwise I would come to your rescue. But right now that would mean that whole moving thing."

"You're right. Moving as a general rule is a bad thing. Especially in the morning."

"Glad you understand. You'll make a good martyr," the blonde patted Trinity on the head as she walked by. "Don't worry. We'll get him back at a more opportune time."

"That we will," Trinity declared through clenched teeth.

Wufei, who was getting tired of their idle prattle, yanked Trinity's arm sharply in the wrong direction. The brunette responded with a whole string of colorful words referring to Wufei, his family, his manliness, and his hair, of which 'uncle' was mixed somewhere in there. Pilot 05 counted that as good enough; he released her and began ripping apart the pictures. 

But Samantha had spoken, and the 'more opportune time' came just minutes later as she smashed the last, and only, undevoured pancake into Wufei's unsuspecting face. "Syrup?" Trinity inquired from behind Wufei as she poured some down his clean, white pants and quickly shot out of the kitchen after Sam to higher, safer ground. 

***

After a few hours of taking lip from Samantha about being so weak as to have been pinned by Wufei, though the brunette was sure her blonde counterpart would have been in the same position (she didn't mention this as she feared the wrath that would come with the remark), Trinity had decided to dare to venture from the room, if only for a second. 

"Hey, Quat," Trinity approached the blonde who was staring out the window at something. The blonde glanced out to see what her friend was gazing at so intensely, but she only saw a black car drive off down the street. "Uh..." 'Maybe he's bird watching,' she thought, even though she didn't see any birds. 'Or maybe...mailbox watching. You never know with these pilots. First pancakes, then burping scales, ...Hannah and I are beginning to look saner and saner.' 

Quatre seemed to snap out of it and his blue eyes met hers. "What is it, Trinity?"

"I was wondering when we're leaving. Sam and I wanted to start getting our stuff together and we were wondering when exactly we're going to be taking off and how long we're staying," Trinity explained as she eyed her friend with a bit of concern.

  
  


"We'll be leaving in an hour or so, once the sun sets," Quatre informed her as he glanced out of the window, worry written plainly across his face.

Trinity looked out again and just saw the normal street; nobody was even walking down the sidewalk (and there were defiantly no birds, though there was not a sparse supply of mailboxes). "Do you feel okay?"

"Yes, I feel fine," he responded with a forced smile.

"If you say so. When are we coming back?"

"Christmas night, right after Tina gives us the signal that all is clear."

"Oooo! I like sneaky signals! What is it?"

"Simply, we call her cell phone and no one picks up. She's got caller ID so she'll know when we're calling, and she wont pick up. That way, no one can trace the signal," Quatre explained.

Trinity pondered. "But what if the coast isn't clear, and she has to pick up, and then someone traces the signal, and then comes and stalks us and beats us all senseless, then shaves off Duo's hair, steals Wufei's "man hood", shoots Heero, drives you mad, and then sells Sam, Trowa, and me off to the circus?! We're doomed! You and your damn secret signals!! I've always hated them!!!"

"Have you had any coffee today?" Quatre asked as he patted her gently on the shoulder.

"Well, Sam did hand me about one - two- three- four- eight cups or so, but I didn't finish the last one, and I only used up half of the sugar bowl in the process," Trinity explained. "Why?"

"No reason."

"Didn't think so!!!!" Trinity flew up towards the girls room to inform Samantha that they should begin their packing. Quatre watched her back recede into the depths of the door before he turned back to the window. Moments later, he jumped out of surprise as a hand rested on his shoulder.

"What is it?" Heero grunted from behind him as pilot 01 removed his hand and stepped next to his comrade. 

Quatre shook his head and looked over to Heero. "This is the second day I've seen that man sitting in his car in front of the house. What do you make of this, Heero?"

The brown haired youth shrugged. "It could be any number of people following us." He thought for a second before continuing. "If he had been sent by the war leader, it would be likely that we would already be thrown in jail. It's more likely that it's a bounty hunter attempting to take us by surprise."

"So we're going to have to be extra careful when we leave the house tonight before Tina's family gets here, so that he doesn't follow us and know where the base is," Trowa said as he came up from behind the two. 

Quatre glanced back out onto the street which was empty now as the afternoon calm took over the colony. "I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about this."

"You also had a bad feeling about letting Trinity use the blender," Heero pointed out.

Quatre grimaced. "And yet, look at how that turned out." The others' stomachs growled with anger at the past event. 

"I see your point."

***

He looked out at her from behind his glasses, his platinum blonde hair shadowing his ice blue eyes slightly as he gave his friend a disbelieving stare. "So, she's really going to go after her on Christmas?" He took a deep gulp of his drink. "I've heard about heartless, psychotic, and sadistic, but don't you think that's going a bit overboard."

"Don't let 'him' hear you say that," his dark haired friend replied as his green eyes motioned to the closed bathroom door meaningfully. "You know how he gets when you talk about her that way."

"Well, she deserves it. I've never met someone more messed up in my life, besides - and this is just a possibility because I think she's got him beat - Nadir." The blonde swept his hair off of his gorgeous, 'pretty boy' face as he pondered that for a moment. "Nope. She's defiantly more messed up than that crack head." He whistled. "Christmas of all days."

"Well, I believe that it's a perfectly fitting day to do it on," the third garcon in the room put in as he started to reconstruct the hand gun he had been cleaning. "Give the little bitch a present, and on the way we can all sample the Christmas treats."

"We?" The blonde inquired, his left eyebrow arching in question. 

"Oh," the third snapped the bullet cartridge in place, "hasn't he told you yet? We've been given orders to accompany her. The Big Duck says it would ruin everything if she keeled over before the big battle. Something about 'the long run'. Who knows what that wacko has up his sleeve."

"You should show your commander more respect," the green eyed youth shot back. "What do you think he would do to you if he heard you calling him the 'Big Duck'?" He was immediately ignored. 

"Not to mention that 'he' would flip if anything happened to his sweetheart," the blonde returned as he stared absent mindedly at the bathroom where his friend was still primping. Neither of the two bothered to listen to the green-eyed one, who, realizing that they didn't give a damn what he thought, went back to picking up his end of the room.

"I can't believe that anyone would ever call her a sweetheart. She doesn't seem like the type to accept chocolates being as she's been known to blow her soldier's brains out because she was bored."

"Maybe she's great in the sack," the blonde put in, a wondering grin spreading over his face.

"Well, there's only one of us who will ever know, which reminds me - Hey in there!" The third called to the one in the bathroom. "You're taking longer than mister playboy over here, and that's saying something! I need to get in there so I can make supper!!"

"Excuse me," the blonde interrupted. "It doesn't take me very long at all. There's nothing that one to do to make one look better when one is already a vision of perfection." He flashed his amigo a flashy grin. 

The two other guys in the room rolled their eyes as the door opened and yet another entered. His eyes, one blue and one green, were narrowed with anger as he stomped into the abode. 

"What happened this time?" The green eyed one questioned as he glanced over his shoulder at the new arrival, who flung his long jacket across the room. 

"I don't get to go with you all tomorrow. He's ordered for me to be his personal guard tomorrow just so that he can make sure I don't sneak off." The multicolor-eyed one slammed his fist on the table.

"Well, you know what they say. The bigger duck usually gets the last quack," the third one commented from the corner.

The other guys in the room eyed their friend wearily. "We never should have let him take that cooking class. He's never going to stop making allusions to food for as long as we live."

"He's even called the commander the Big Duck."

"It's better than Big Dick."

"You do have a point. At least he hasn't given the war general pet name. She would flip and then probably shoot him between the eyes."

"He'd be off our hands though, and there would be less people SHARING ONE BATHROOM!!" The late arrival hinted to his friend in the shower; why were they given one bathroom between the lot of them? It was ridiculous. Of course, it wouldn't have been that bad, he realized, if three of them weren't so damn vain. He didn't think it was possible to spend over an hour styling one's hair, especially when there was nothing you could do with it besides spike it up. His friends would never cease to amaze him. "So, are you guys excited for the mission tomorrow?" He asked, a little bit of whiny jealousy seeping into his voice. "You finally get to meet the five original Gundam pilots in person."

The blonde shrugged. "We all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. They are only human you know."

"And if they're not," the black eyed one said with a twisted grin, "we'll find out, wont we?" (Insert evil laughter and cracks of thunder and lightening here.)

***

"I'm not walking all of the way there with HIM!" As much as Trinity seemed to scream and rant, it didn't seem as if the others were going to budge on the idea at all. 

Heero slipped a gun into one of his jacket pockets as he explained to her once again, "We need to keep Wufei alive. After a thinking about it, we decided that you were the least lethal of the two to go along with him."

"Why can't we trade him for Samantha and then neither of us have to deal with the whiner!?" The blonde nodded in agreement. 

"Uh, Trin, look who's whining now," Duo pointed out as he slipped his sunglasses on over his eyes; the sun may have set an hour ago, but with his hangover, even the streetlights seemed to be screaming at him. 

"I AM NOT WHINING YOU PUFFY PANTS FREAK!"

Samantha sighed and shook her head, "Not that she doesn't have a point, but that is the last time I am ever giving her anything with even a dash of caffeine in it. Some people can stomach it and," she glanced over to where Trinity had immersed herself with flipping Trowa's hair this way and that, "some people can't."

"Listen, we don't have any time to argue about this. We need to leave now before Tina's family gets here," Quatre pushed the small band of seven towards the doorway as Tina came hurling through the kitchen door. 

"Here! Take this," she handed Trinity a bag of random munchies for the road as well as food for Christmas day. Duo, thinking wisely for once, snatched the bag from the girl's hands and handed it over to Trowa.

"If we give it to one of the girls, it'll be gone by the time we get there," he explained to Tina's questioning face.

"If that," Trinity bragged. 

"I bet we could do it before the end of the block."

"If the stupid idiots would let us walk together that is," Trinity grumbled as they all flooded out onto the back porch and proceeded on their way to the alley. 

"Don't you get it?" Wufei growled as he, Heero, and Trinity set off in the exact opposite direction as the others. "We separated you so that you two wouldn't talk so loudly and get us spotted. We couldn't have women's banter giving off our position, now could we?"

"You'll pay for that," Trinity responded as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I don't see why we have to be so cautious about this. No one knows where we are, right?" She turned to Heero for the response so that she wouldn't have to put up with Wufei for the time being. 

"We're not sure about that anymore," he informed simply and went silent for the rest of the journey. Try as Trinity did, she couldn't get Heero to say anything else about it and eventually she gave up trying to hold a conversation at all - she wasn't about to start one up with Wufei - and she turned mute. They stayed mainly on the back roads of the colony as they ventured to hell-knows-where (as Trinity would put it) into the middle of the colony. 

She wasn't sure whether it was just her imagination or the fact that there were no street lights the farther they got from Tina's house, but the neighborhoods became drearier as they continued on. Soon, there were no longer any houses that looked as if people lived in them. The windows were boarded up and trash clung to the chain linked fences at enclosed some groups of houses. 

"Are you sure you know where you're going, Heero?"

He nodded as he lead them towards one of the houses, around the corner, and into the backyard. The trio slunk around the overgrown garden that had overtaken what probably used to be grass and over to what looked like a cellar entrance at the back of the house. 

"Ladies first," Wufei said sarcastically as he unlocked the padlock on the two wooden doors and opened them up. The opening lead to a steep, cement, staircase that went down into the darkness, farther than Trintiy's eyes could see without any lighting.

"So that you can push me down on the way there?" She shoved Wufei in front of her. "I don't think so. You go on ahead, sir."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but after the long walk, he didn't have the energy to argue with her anymore. The black haired one began down the stairs with Trinity stepping viciously on his heels after him, and Heero talking up the rear. 

"We've obviously beaten them here," Heero said in reference to the lack of sound at the end of the tunnel.

Trinity snickered. "I hope Duo didn't get them lost. Men never seem to ask for directions."

The other two took the insult silently, and they continued on their way down. The air became cooler as they descended, and Trinity began to think it smelt ever so slightly of her grandmother's attic but didn't mention it. She was now wondering if they were entering a normal basement as the stairs were continuing into the earth deeper than she deemed necessary for a cellar. 

Finally they reached the end (Trinity didn't notice that Wufei had stopped in front of a door and had ran right into him. She mumbled something explicit and about break lights under her breath). Wufei pressed a few buttons on a keypad and a door, high tech and metallic to Trinity's surprise, slid open in front of them to reveal a rather large hanger with ten or fifteen mobile suits, repair equipment, assorted weaponry, and a very starving, sad looking Christmas tree in the corner. 

Trinity's brown eyes stared at the sight before her. "What is this place?"

"It's one of the Preventers' bases on L10," Heero explained as he tossed his jean jacket over a sofa which randomly sat in the middle of the room.

"So the Preventers do have a base on this colony," Trinity wondered out loud. "I didn't even know that they bothered with little colonies like this one." She eyed the place for any sign of life. "But where is everyone?"

Heero smiled slightly. "It is Christmas. They've probably all taken off the day for vacation. "Wufei informed Sally of the situation we were in, and she told us it wouldn't be a problem if we stayed here," Quatre explained as the others entered the room via the doorway behind them. Samantha looked as if she had walked into a wonderland. 

"I've never seen mobily suit thingys this close before," she whispered, in awe of the bigness and shininess of the suits before her. 

"Well, actually, obviously you have but...oh well," Trinity sighed then smiled. Though she had become accustomed to Sam, as she was exactly like Hannah in almost every way, she was hoping that her friend would randomly wake up and have her memories in tact. As she was off wandering around in daydream land, someone had slipped a small box into her hand. 

She blinked. "What's this?" She held the small, wrapped box up so she could get a better look at it. It was only as big as the palm of her hand and covered in newspaper as apposed to Christmas wrapping paper. There was a tiny, makeshift paper bow on the top of it with her name scrawled neatly over the top.

Quatre, who had handed it to her, smiled at her and handed Samantha a considerably larger package. "You're going to have to forgive us. It was the best that we could do for gifts given the circumstances." There were random remarks about how they shouldn't have and how they weren't able to get the guys anything at all from the two females, but Quatre just held up his hand to silence them. After that the two girls readily ripped open their packages. 

"AHHHHHH!" Samantha began jumping up and down with excitement. "I've always wanted one of these!" She banished a very shiny, box-like object and shoved it in Trinity's face. "Looky, looky!"

Trinity poked her confused face around the square to look at Sam. "It's very shiny...but...what the hell is it?"

Samantha's mouth dropped open, and she gave Trinity the stare she usually reserved for Duo when he said things like 'It's very hot in here' or 'I think your toast is burnt' and other obvious, general knowledge statements. "It's a PASTA MAKER, dolt."

"Pasta?" Trinity asked, her face instantly lighting up.

"Yes, dear. Pasta. We DO know what pasta is, don't we? Say yes, or suffer the consequences."

"Yes."

"Thank the caffeine gods, I thought I was going to have to get after you with the cheese grater," Trinity winced at the thought,"but what did you get?"

Trinity lifted up a silver necklace chain with three tiny, sparkly balls hanging from it. "I got something shiny as well, see?" The two stared mutely at the godly shininess that was their's for a couple of dense moments before Duo brought them back to reality.

"It was my idea, see," he poked the three round charms on the chain in turn, "One, two, three."

"Wow. It can count."

"I was going for 'wow, it can speak', myself."

"Excellent point. I've never seen a ball of hair that could do either of those." 

Duo disregarded the both of them as he continued, "It goes with your name."

"My name? My name is not Shiny Balls," the brunette informed dimly.

"Thank god for that," Samantha quipped as she petted her pasta maker; no one was going to get close to her new best friend. She clutched it like a mother hangs onto their young and rocked it back and forth a few times. 

Duo sighed. "No. Three. Like 'Trinity', which means of three parts." He just shook his head at them, his braid swishing side to side. He had never had to explain anything to either of them before like that; they were obviously very tired. 

"Oh!" Trinity's eyes lit up with recognition as she clipped the necklace around her neck. "I never even realized that." She played with the charms a bit before she let out a very long yawn. "Thanks for the necklace, ya'll." Sam nodded her thanks, not wanting to take her eyes off her new prize. The blonde had caught Trinity's yawn and she let out one of her own. 

Trowa glanced at the clock on the wall and motioned them all towards a room across the large hanger. "It's late. It would be best if we all got a good nights sleep for once," he hinted as he himself began walking towards the doorway.

"Where do we sleep?" Samantha inquired of Quatre as she placed the pasta maker under her arm and held it safe with the death grip. 

Quatre reddened a bit. "Well, actually. This base only has one bedroom, so we're all going to have to stay in there." Looks of horror washed over the girls' faces, so he added quickly,"Don't worry! There are enough beds for everyone. We only have to share a room, not a bed."

The horror lessened a bit, but then Trinity's figured out something. "The same room. With Wufei?"

Samantha's upper lip curled a bit as she thought of the idea. "We're going to have to do something about this." She handed the pasta maker over to Quatre, so that he could take care of it for the time being. She looked at Trinity, who returned the glance, and the two nodded.

"The garland?"

"Yep. My thoughts exactly."

"What color?"

"Let's go with green."

"Sounds good to me."

The two lunged in sync at the Chinese pilot, and it was only a matter of time before they had him wrapped up completely in the garland from the Christmas tree. Wufei squirmed angrily on the floor as Sam and Trinity yanked him towards the doorway; he was evidently screaming, but they had taken the precaution to stuff some tinsel in his mouth and cover it with duct tape so that he wouldn't keep them awake with his complaining. 

"You're looking in the holiday spirit, Wufei," Duo chided as the two pulled the black haired pilot through the door and over to the side of an empty bed.

"There. Now he can't do anything to us in our sleep." 

"Should we lift him up on the bed?"

"I think he's too heavy actually."

"I agree. Let's just leave 'im there."

"Sounds like a plan to me." 

"Merry Christmas, Wufei," Trinity quipped as she and Sam went off to get ready for bed. 

Sam smirked evilly. "Make sure you're a good boy, or Santa wont come and give you anything." The sparkling form on the ground growled angrily and squirmed around like an enraged caterpillar for a bit before giving in to his sad fate.

  
  


***

Trinity woke up around noon the next day and sat up wondering where in the hell she was. When her brain finally began moving (though slow as it did, given the early hour), she figured out her location and looked over to the beds next to her. Empty

'Where was everyone?' She thought as she slipped out of the bed and walked out of the bedroom and into the hanger. Her nose immediately took control of her body and she floated on her sock covered feet towards her right where she found Sam bent over a large, boiling pot of water. 

"What'cha makin'?" The brunette asked as a yawn escaped her.

"I, the goddess of the pasta maker, am making spaghetti," Samantha responded as she handed Trinity a noodle. "Test."

Trinity slurped up the long snack and nodded that they were done. "That's really good. Where are the guys?"

"Of course it's good. They're off in one of the side rooms debating about something." Samantha placed the pot in the middle of a round table. "You're still tired aren't you?"

"How can you tell?"

"Your sentences don't make sense together yet," she informed as she divided the noodles onto two plates. "Though, that usually doesn't happen until around three in the afternoon, does it?"

"Noph," Trinity responded through a mouthful of noodles. She eyed the door the guys were behind and figured that if they weren't coming out for supper that they probably didn't want to be interrupted.

In fact, they did not even emerge after lunch was over, or even around the time the two had pudding for a snack. They wondered how long they could go without eating and decided that they must have a fridge in there since Duo probably couldn't go more than a few hours without something to munch on (but then again, who can't?). Trinity, around the time supper rolled around, deduced that they had to also have a bathroom connected to the room, otherwise things would get very messy. 

"Unless of course, they have a bigger bladder than you. Which wouldn't be saying much," the brunette snickered as she poked a lasagna noodle that Samantha had just made.

"Don't bring my bladder into this. It's never done anything to you."

The sworded one was about to retort when the door finally opened, and Quatre came out first, then followed by the others. The five looked at the two standing in the kitchen silently for a few seconds before Trinity held up a gigantic, wavy noodle. "Noodle? We've been playing with the pasta maker all day. You wouldn't believe the shapes we came up with. We made one that looked remotely like Wufei, but then we de-limbed it and Sam bit off its head."

"You should feel honored to have made it into my pasta maker," Sam informed pilot 05 with a sadistic grin which just screamed 'let me stick you in a pot and boil you to see if you get squishy'. (Are noodles really 'squishy'? I can't think of a better adjective...they're not really 'squishy' though...it's more of a soft-chewyness...)

"It's time that we head back," Quatre informed the two girls, who looked at the clock in shock. 

"Already?" Trinity asked. "It doesn't feel as if we've even been here for an hour...well, besides the fact that we slept here and all, but beyond that..."

"Do you two have everything together?" Quatre asked them; he didn't seem to be his usual smiling self. In fact, his voice was rather muted and his blue eyes glanced nervously at the two girls.

"Yeah. As far as I know," Sam told him. The brunette nodded that her stuff was ready was well. "We can leave whenever you guys want."

"We should get going then. Heero has called Tina, and there was no answer. That's the signal that we're okay to return," he explained to Samantha as he started walking towards the doorway. "You two are coming with me, and the others are following a bit later to make sure that no one is following us. They'll carry all of your belongings with them."

"He's really serious about this," Trinity whispered into Samantha's ear as they started up the steps, leaving the other four guys behind them. "Do you think something happened?"

Her friend just shrugged to show that she didn't have a clue what the guys had been discussing all day long. The duo became silent as they caught up with Quatre and the trio continued on the way home, through the rough neighborhoods, to the alleyways of the ritzier houses. They eventually hit what seemed to be semi-familiar surroundings. This was when Quatre looked across the street to see a form walking down away from them. 

'It's him!' He thought, his heart beat racing. He was almost positive that it was the same guy that had been waiting out in the car the day before, and the day before that. The man didn't turn to look at them, but rather continued down the opposite side of the street at a leisurely pace. 

"You two go on ahead. I think I dropped something back a couple blocks," he looked down the street and could see Tina's house just a few more down. "Don't stop for anything and get into the house, okay?"

"Uh, alright," Trinity said as she and Sam took off in front of him, eyebrows raised. 

"I didn't think he was carrying anything," Sam declared to her friend as the two neared Tina's house. Two more houses. One more house.

Trinity just shrugged and said, "Maybe he wanted to go look at one of those fancy mailboxes we passed on the way here."

"Mailboxes?" 

"Don't ask." They had made it to Tina's house and were now standing just at the end of the sidewalk. "The lights are out."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Sam mumbled as they headed up the sidewalk and towards the door. " It IS one o'clock in the morning."

  
  


***

Quatre raced after the man as quietly as he possibly could, but his feet were making crunching noises on the gravel in the alleyway. "What's this guy doing around here anyway?" Quatre asked himself as he scrambled through the darkness after the stranger.

The man turned the next corner; the blonde followed. The two raced around the neighborhood playing a silent game of tag until the man turned onto the main street. Quatre, not wanting to be seen in the street lights beams, turned onto the open street after giving the man a few seconds head start, but when pilot 04 turned the corner, the man was no where to be seen.

"He couldn't have just disappeared," Quatre said to himself as he looked around worriedly. Then it hit him and his blue eyes widened with fear.

"The girls." 

***

"The doors unlocked."

"Yes, yes, YES, Captain Obvious. How else did you expect that she would let us get in? Do you have a key? Neither do I." Samantha pointed out as she flung open the door. She skipped through the threshold, followed immediately by Trinity, and the two stood on the rug for only 0.43 seconds before they both asked each other with their noses cringed:

"What in the world is that smell?"

"It almost smells like Duo's old socks. Only worse," Trinity gasped for clean air as she looked around.

Samantha's head had started to pound. "It's more pungent than YOUR feet. And that's saying something." She walked to the middle of the room when another wave of the odor caught her. "It's almost like...like..." Her eyes became glazed over as she stared straight ahead.

It was then that her vision was blurred by a blinding white flash and a deafening bang filled her ears.

  
  
  
  
  
  


  



End file.
